Tag Archives: comedy

Review: Otomen, Vol. 7

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Otomen, Vol. 7
Written and Illustrated by Aya Kanno
Publisher: VIZ Media Shojo Beat
Genre: Shojo/Romance/High School
Rated: Young Adult
200 pages, $9.99 US
ISBN-13: 978-1421532363

My first review of Otomen was also sort of a look at the digital manga content on Viz’s manga app for iPad. I am talking quite a bit about digital comics these past few weeks, but I wanted to go back to Otomen on the iPad and reexamine the series. I have been really enjoying the volumes between 1 and 7, but I think now is an appropriate time to follow up.

Otomen, for those who don’t follow this series, is a comic about a boy named Asuka who appears to be the manliest of men, but secretly loves shojo manga, cooking, sewing, and other “girly” activities. He is paired up with a “manly” girl named Ryo, and manga author named Juta who uses the relationship between the two as the basis of his best-selling manga series “Love Chick.” This pairing is sometimes interrupted by other people, such as a girly-looking boy who admires Asuka’s manliness, a flower-obsessed hunk, and one of Asuka’s rival martial artists who loves makeup. This diverse group all has one thing in common – they appear to be something, but deep inside they are the opposite of what everyone thinks they represent.

I think that there is a lot of truth in this seemingly little message, but I feel like that now that we have reached the 7th volume of the series, the same old plot constructs are getting a little stale. It seems as though the same plot point is used in every major arc in the series. Otomen uses this character technique again and again, and by the time we meet the hard rocker playboy in book 6, it’s almost guaranteed that he is going to be a giant softie. Not that this is bad – it’s actually quite fun to read. Still, I am looking for the series to develop a bit and it has instead stayed mostly the same.

There are some interesting things that happen in this volume despite its overuse of the “don’t judge a book by its cover” thing Otomen loves. We see Juta get into drag once again in order to do an autograph session for “Love Chick,” and meets his first high school sweetheart (the girl who got him into shojo manga in the first place) and a ghost story that Asuka solves despite his reluctance and fear of the supernatural. There is a huge cliffhanger based out of the last chapter that I won’t spoil here, but threatens to change the entire dynamic of Otomen. I doubt that this event will actually happen, because if it does, Otomen would have to be about something more serious. Otomen is mostly just a one-note comedy, so I would imagine whatever happens resolves in a status quo sort of way, but I’ve been wrong about this sort of thing before.

The art in volume 7 is not the best we’ve seen in the series, but it does plenty of good for the stories in this volume. Kanno definitely has the chops for the emotions, the rough action, and the cutesy bento, arts and crafts, and anything else that Asuka gets his hands on. Kanno is especially good at inserting little touches into her art – a good example is when Juta is busy writing manga – he likes to clip back his hair to keep it out of his eyes. This adds to what you know and understand about the character with very minimal talk, and some artists would miss opportunities like this.

While I’ve griped about Otomen in this review a bit, I truly love it to death. The formula, despite being present in essentially every volume, is a good one – Otomen has proven it can be a mine of comedy silver and gold. If you haven’t gotten your hands (or your mouse) on a copy of Otomen yet, do yourself a favor and get it. You won’t regret it. Just make sure you check your normal “this has to happen in shojo manga” expectations at the door.

Rescue Me! The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko

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Here at Manga Widget, we’re taking two solid months to look at abandoned licenses of great shojo and josei series from the late Tokyopop and CMX. Last week’s entry into the series was a feature on Stolen Hearts, a traditional shojo high school romance story from CMX with a lovely kimono twist.

Here’s the list of the series (and links back to previous articles in case you missed one).

  1. Stolen Hearts
  2. The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko
  3. Skyshore Blue
  4. The Ginkacho Stellar Six
  5. Happy Café
  6. Argentis Apothecarium
  7. The Lapis Lazuli Crown
  8. Suppli

This week’s rescue request is The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko (笑うかのこ様, Warau Kanoko-sama), which is a three volume series originally licensed by Tokyopop in a wave of really fun licenses in the Winter of 2010/Spring of 2011. Written and illustrated by Ririko Tsujita, the series was originally published in LaLa DX, a shojo anthology from Hakusensha, which is a bimonthly sister publication to their LaLa anthology. LaLa DX generally debuts new series or one shot stories which can be turned into series if they are popular. Such is the case with The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko.

Hakusensha, as I have mentioned before, is now one of the mid-list major publishers who do not have any real publishing partners in the USA.

The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko is critically lauded in the manga community in the USA for its spunky heroine, a girl much like Harriet from Nickelodeon’s Harriet the Spy or Nico from Sexy Voice and Robo, who declares that she is the impartial observer of all her classmates antics; she records activities and personalities, and unearths particular traits, forbidden relationships, and sour relationships with gusto. The catchline of “objective observer” is more of a running joke, however- Kanoko always manages to get herself dragged into problems and manages to bring justice (or her version of it) to those deserving using her particular skill set to its advantage.

One of the most interesting points to The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko is its format; because LaLa DX is a bimonthly publication, most series have to reintroduce their running storyline in the first few pages of each chapter. While this could get tedious when transferred to the collected tankoban format, The Secret Notes of Lady Kanoko uses this reintroduction to its advantage, having Kanoko transfer school at each new chapter (friends from the first chapter pop back into the storyline from time to time and help her out). This allows her to revisit her “objective observer” ways and really let her start dissecting problems at each new school, allowing her to get messily involved.

Tokyopop managed to get two of the three volumes published before their sudden closure, so we get to see most of the series in print from them. Still, having read the first volume, I want to know how the series ends. Being so close to completion is really disappointing, and there are other Tokyopop series that are stuck in this “one and done” mode, so close to being finished, but never completed.

Another strong point for this license (besides its small size) is that it has an apparently successful sequel currently running in LaLa DX (恋だの愛だの, Koi Dano Ai Dano) which is currently at 2 collected volumes in length. One point regarding this sequel which a few bloggers have mentioned is the second volume of Koi Dano Ai Dano and its fairly steamy cover, so perhaps we will get to see Kanoko give up her school hopping and start making some real and lasting relationships.

Two series with a total of 5 volumes is really small and affordable, so it would be great to see this manga revisited; an omnibus from Yen Press might be just the thing for this fun and quirky little series.

Review: Disappearance Diary

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Written and Illustrated by Hideo Azumi
Publisher: Fanfare/Ponent Mon
Unrated+
Genre: Slice-of-life/Seinen/Comedy
US $22.99, UK 11.99, 200 pgs., ISBN 9788496427426

When I originally started looking into works published by Fanfare earlier last year, I was surprised by both the small size of their catalog, and the immense depth of range that it represented. Disappearance Diary, winner of the 9th Japan Media Arts Festival Grand Prize in 2005, is a piece of work that not only exemplifies the Fanfare catalogue, but also shows how unique it truly is.

Disappearance Diary is an autobiography written by Hideo Azumi, a manga writer who, like most authors, has to live paycheck to paycheck. In two separate fits, he runs away from his home and becomes a vagabond, living off of trash and cigarette butts thrown on the sidewalk. He hides in public parks, sleeps in fields, steals vegetables from farms, and occasionally he is returned to civilization by those not privy to his mental breakdowns. In the final third of the book, Azumi relates his descent into alcoholism and forced rehabilitation.

One of the key features of Disappearance Diary is that, unlike so many other harrowing autobiographies, Azumi is willing to look at his life and laugh. If Azumi ever looked into the Abyss, the Abyss looking back would only see a giggling man, full of self-contempt and wry amusement. This tone gives Azumi’s autobiography a cheerful demeanor, despite its difficult content. It allows Azumi to write humor into humorless passages, and allows him to breathe life into a stagnating, perhaps decaying sense of self.

The art, like the tone of the book, is appropriately cheery. The characters are squat and cartoonish, removing the realism from the story, much like Charlz Schultz’s characters in Peanuts. Azumi lives in a world populated by creeps and judgmental passerby, but all of these people are encapsulated in caricatures that give Azumi the distance he needs to tell the story of his life. This distance is a key part of the narrative tone; without it, the book almost surely could have not been written, nor could it have been so harrowing.

While reading this book, it is difficult to realize how hard Azumi’s life was during the time that is illustrated for us, which is the real reason why Disappearance Diary is such an interesting piece of fiction. On one hand, I am cheering for him as he finds food and cigarettes out on the street, but at the same time, I am being deluded. The cheery statements that Azumi’s character make obfuscate the true meaning of the passages, and the cartoony artwork further distances the hellish world of homelessness and alcoholism for the eyes of the reader. Only by truly examining the message delivered by the story do we sense the despair lurking in Azumi, knowing that the possibility of future flight and a relapse into addictive behavior could be right around the corner.

“This manga has a positive outlook on life, and so it has been made with as much realism removed as possible.” With this opening, Hideo Azumi foreshadows the telling of a tale that weaves in and out of the most horrible years of his adult life. As a struggling manga artist, Azumi relates to us in Disappearance Diary the story of his adult life, and does so with a distance and emotional levity that at times borders on the inappropriate. I feel that this is of utmost importance. With his inappropriate look at a life troubled by alcoholism and homelessness, Hideo Azumi lays bare his troubles and allows us to dissect them, showing us a dark world tinged by rose-colored glasses.

Manga Widget Investigates: Barakamon

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My birthday is on a Monday this year (March 28th if anyone wants to get me something!) which means new comics are released the day after my birthday. That means that I get a late birthday present from Yen Press – the third volume of Bunny Drop by Yumi Unita will be available to purchase on the 29th. I have been looking forward to this book for a while now, so I’m glad to get my hands on the next volume. What does this have to do with Manga Widget Investigates? Why, the subject matter, of course!

Bunny Drop is a manga about an adult man and his interactions with a young child. Yen Press has multiple series (Bunny Drop, Yotsuba&!) that fit into this odd category. Since Yen Press has a corner on both the “adult men and their fatherly interactions with female children,” as well as the corner on all of Square Enix‘s titles, I thought I might look around for another series that might fit into their catalog – and have I found it. This week we’re going to look at a manga series called Barakamon.

Barakamon is a slice of life manga written and illustrated by Satsuki Yoshino about a haughty young calligrapher who goes into self-exile after attacking another calligrapher who criticizes his work. After arriving at a small rural island, our protagonist meets all the island folk and settles into a life of “country living.” He meets a little girl who is spectacularly interested in this new stranger (and of course, using his house as a fort to play in), and apparently drives a lot of the humor of the series. His acclamation to this environment and his befriending of the local children and families is the source for what I am sure are antics galore.

Barakamon is currently published in Gangan Online, and online effort that Square Enix is doing, and was originally published Gangan Powered. Interestingly enough, the Gangan anthologies are a source for much of Yen Press’ material. Barakamon, in Gangan Powered, was published alongside content like Hero Tales, Higurashi: When They Cry, Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime, and video game-inspired titles.

Currently the series is available online, and you can read it (in Japanese) at this link.  The more information can be found (and presumably run through Google Translate, if you are so inclined) at this link.

As we get into license announcement season, I’m keeping Barakamon on my list. It looks like a fun and cute slice-of-life comedy that is similar to Bunny Drop, and Yotsuba&!, which, if you think about it, is probably the best praise I can give a series.

Review: Stray Little Devil, Volume #1

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(The original, abbreviated version of this review can be found on http://www.comicsvillage.com)

Stray Little Devil, Volume #1
Written and Illustrated by Kotaro Mori
DrMaster Publications
Rated T for Teen (13+), USA $9.95
208 pgs.

In Stray Little Devil, Pam is an ordinary junior high student, but when she tries to summon a “kind devil” her grandmother once fell in love with, she ends up being transported to a world where devils and angels coexist, and humans are a fairy-tale. Transformed into a devil, she is told by a mysterioius Remy that if she can become a full-fledged devil, he can send her home. Starting out isn’t easy. Pam must acquire a familiar, and test her mettle (as well as learn to read!!) against competing devils at Pandemonium, the devil’s HQ. A mix of action, comedy, and a few yuri leanings combine as Pam acquires a familiar and learns to accept her new home in the devil world.

Stray Little Devil has an interesting cast; devils and angels have split their world down the middle, and aren’t allowed to help each-other. Other spirits are mixed into this supernatural cast, and it gives the manga its own distinct flavor. Despite not being allowed to help angels, Pam meets an angel Linfa who looks exactly like a friend from junior high, and ends up saving her, causing no end of torment and bad luck on Pam’s part because of the law of “conservation of luck,” a sort of spirtual universal law similar to gravity or the conservation of energy. It’s clear that as the series continues, these two girls will learn to be friends, and the first volume hints that there may be more than friendship in store for the two.

The writing for this manga is mediocre, unfortunately. There’s nothing truly original about the character interactions, as these kinds of plot lines have been done by better mangaka, but fortunately for Stray Little Devil, it’s artwork and backdrop to the main story really helps it put its best foot forward.The real strength of Stray Little Devil is in the art. Characters are expressive, showing sadness, happiness, fury, loathing, and fear in ways that never seem forced. The art is detailed and powerful with good use of effects, and the action scenes are well conveyed.

Stray Little Devil does, however, have its Achilles Heel. Production values of this manga are quite low, causing it to look much cheaper than its $10 price tag. DrMaster included a full color page which was wasted on a title screen and a table of contents. The paper is low quality, and very yellow, and sometimes washes out the art. I find this really distracting, because in a few of the darker scenes where action is intense, it is at times quite hard to see and understand what is going on. The biggest thing to note is that the book is almost a whole 1/2 an inch shorter than a regular manga. Thankfully, the production values get better with the next book in the series (although the book never gets any bigger). If DrMaster continues to make these types of mistakes, I doubt I will be buying much more of their manga, regardless of the quality of the series. I’m buying a book, not a newspaper.
Overall, this manga has what it takes to be successful, but DrMaster needs to put a little more work into its releases, or many of the people who would normally enjoy this book will purchase other manga instead.

Review: I, Otaku, Struggle In Akihabara, vol. 1

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I, Otaku, Struggle in Akihabara: vol. 1
Written and Illustrated by Jiro Suzuki
Seven Seas Entertainment LLC.
Rated T for Teen, $9.99 USA
177 pgs.

I, Otaku is a manga about the life and times of a underground anime and manga fan, named Sota. Following in the footsteps of the renowned Genshiken, I, Otaku tries to live up to the high bar that predicessor otaku comedies have set for it.

The art of the bookitself is highly stylized, and the art style is similar to the style of Sumomomo, Momomo, the recently serialized manga from Yen Press by Shinobu Ohtaka. Unfortunately, I can’t say I’m a big fan of the style. It’s part of the reason why I can’t stand Sumomomo, Momomo, but that’s a rant for another day. Mostly, the art can be quite detailed at times, and the panels are never crowded, but the sketchiness, and roughness of the drawings in certain panels make its art fairly mediocre.

Seven Seas has done a good job with this novel. The editing is supurb, and there are no guttering issues that prevented me from reading the book. In addition, Seven Seas has made the first page of the manga a glossy, full color page, which is nice. The book is printed on standard manga-grade paper, and the book is well put together.

As far as content goes, I, Otaku is a series that has a lot going for it, as far as otakudom comedies go. Avid-fan main character? Check. Clueless girlfriend? Check? Ultra-obsessed store clerk? Check. Otaku wildness? Check.

While this manga has all the ingredients it takes to make up a good otaku-based comedy, it lacks one main ingredient; charm.  From the opening panels to the final story, I, Otaku has plenty of laughs, but leaves no mark on the reader. Unlike Genshiken, the characters leave no lasting impressions (at least, no lasting fond impressions), and even after reading the book, I’m left wondering what the point is. I, Otaku has its moments, but those moments are merely moments, and are few and far between.

I’m impressed with the work that Seven Seas has done with this manga, but in the end, I’m not impressed enough with the story to continue reading. Rent it if you’re really interested, or borrow it from a friend. It’s probably not worth the purchase.

PS: I do recommend Genshiken, if you are interested in otaku comedy. It is far less likely to disappoint.