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Cross Game MMF: No Character Left Behind

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This is it – the final day of Cross Game posts from Manga Widget. I hope that you’ve enjoyed all the content here, and all the other blogs contributing to this month’s Manga Moveable Feast. Special thanks go out to our excellent host, Derik Badman at The Panelists; if you haven’t visited the site and seen all the content, now is your chance.

Today, I wanted to focus on something a little less like a footnote, and more like a stray observation about Adachi’s style of story development. One of the things that makes Cross Game such an interesting and involving read is its character development – and not just the development of a few odd characters who make up the bulk of the action in Cross Game. We see Aoba develop and get to experience Ko’s coming of age, but Adachi has plans for all of his characters.

In the first volume, Nakanishi, one of the players on the Portable team, is shown angrily fighting the high school team. This isn’t important to the story, other than these thugs from the high school team and their antics are Ko’s stated reasons for not joining the baseball team. I feel that Ko’s statement doesn’t have a whole lot of validity – he doesn’t have to show Nakanishi after a fight, his hands bloodied, his range barely contained within the panels of the page. But he does, and develops Nakanishi as a character. We know that he hates injustice and bullying, and that he has a hot temper.

One of the interesting characters that Adachi spends quite a bit of time developing is Senda, a boy in Ko’s class who fancies himself a pitcher and makes it onto the Seishu team only to later be kicked out and put on the Portable team. While at first, this character is merely a source of comic relief for readers and a source of irritation for Ko and Aoba, he suddenly becomes something more – he becomes part of the team. We get to see a great interlude in the third omnibus that shows how Ko and the baseball team spends their New Year holiday. Senda spends the day out trying to find people to hang out with, and finds out after he comes home that the team has been over to hang out, and has since left. This development shows us what Senda is – an insecure boy who hides his fears and anxieties under a mask of boastful confidence. Again – not a necessary detail for the story of Cross Game to continue, but a detail that helps readers connect to the characters presented in Cross Game.

All this character information is presented in a show, not tell sort of style. Adachi is adept at showing readers things that help them connect the dots; his character development is certainly one of these things.

This character development is unlike anything in other shonen or shojo manga, and solidifies Adachi’s place as a great author and entertainer. Because of his attention to detail and focus on the development of his entire varied cast of baseball-playing high-schoolers, Cross Game transcends its Shonen Sunday background and can, if even only for small moments, change from a form of entertainment into art. And we are much the richer for it.

MMF: Cross Game and Mono No Aware

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Welcome back to the Cross Game Manga Moveable Feast. This week, the manga blogosphere is doing its best to feature Mitsuru Adachi’s stellar sports manga, Cross Game, and already there has been some terrific writing, especially at The Panelists, where Derik Badman is hosting this month’s festivities. There is a lot of wonderful writing that comes out of each month’s MMF, and I love to dig into it and learn from it. Case in point -
earlier this week, David Welch at the Manga Curmudgeon explained some of the reasons why he loves Cross Game. (This article is excellent reading, by the way, and I recommend it to all of you).

As I was reading through his article, I realized that he had used a term I had not seen before: mono no aware. The phrase comes from Japanese literature, and I was curious what he meant by it. As I read and learned, I found that I too was impressed and moved by the series’ use of this literary device, but up until that moment in time, had not properly considered it or defined what it did for Cross Game. What is mono no aware, and why is it so important to Cross Game?

Mono no aware (物の哀れ) or literally “the ah-ness of things” or more accurately, “the sadness of things” is a literary device that most likely arose during the Heian Period around the same time that The Tale of Genji was written. It is a mixture of Shinto and Buddhist thought; a Shinto expression of beauty and awe (aware) regarding the instability and impermanence of life (mujo). The form of this idea that we discuss today was developed by Motoori Norinaga (1730-1801), a Japanese studies scholar who postulated that mono no aware was the essence of Japanese culture. Interestingly, this aesthetic is echoed in the writings of Virgil, a Roman scholar who uses it in The Aeneid and calls it lacrimae rerum, or “tears for things.” The express idea in this aesthetic is that we marvel at and mourn the fact that life is constantly changing, and that moments in time are fleeting.

Cross Game is, with all its baseball trappings, a book about loss and the way that people interact with that loss. It is no surprise then, that Adachi uses mono no aware actively throughout Cross Game. The loss of Wakaba is the key instigator for this – the main characters, Ko and Aoba, are still dealing with her loss, and reflecting on that makes them keenly aware of how quickly time passes. In relation to Wakaba’s drowning it seems, we see many scenes that use mono no aware around bodies of water – the local stream, the municipal pool– each reminding both that the time prior to now was fleeting and full, and that it is now gone, and that the same is true for the present. Ko and Aoba both struggle to come to terms with their loss, and this is part of what makes Cross Game such a wonderful read.

Adachi is not the only mangaka who uses mono no aware to good effect. Kozue Amano, writer of Aqua and Aria, uses it heavily in her work, as does Kaoru Mori, the author of Emma and recently released The Bride’s Stories. But reading Cross Game, I find myself in a state of melancholy. I marvel at each chapter and contemplate the very fleeting nature of life and our experiences in it. Cross Game embodies mono no aware and makes it personal for me; it is that personal interaction that makes Cross Game such a joy to read.

Manga Widget Investigates, MMF-Edition: Katsu!

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Hey folks! We are postponing this week’s Rescue Me! post in lieu of a MMF license request. Please check back in next week for more Rescue Me! content.

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As hopefully you know, this week is the Cross Game Manga Moveable Feast, a monthly celebration of manga that lasts an entire week. For May, we are celebrating Mitsuru Adachi’s critically-acclaimed Cross Game, a Shonen Sunday manga published from May of 2005 until February of 2010. Derik Badman is hosting the MMF at The Panelists website, so check back there every day this week for more Cross Game content. Cross Game is 17 volumes long, and is being published in an omnibus format in the USA – seven of the 17 volumes have been released so far, the first translated omnibus volume consisting of the first three volumes, while the second two omnibuses are two volumes long apiece.

Mitsuru Adachi is a sports writer, primarily. He has worked in other genres, such as history and fantasy, but his major area of expertise is sports manga, which is why we haven’t seen too much of him the USA until now. Being a sports manga writer is sort of a kiss of death in the publishing industry in the USA – manga like Prince of Tennis and Eyeshield 21 are not popular in the USA, even though they do very well in Japan. This difference comes from the  audience differences between the two nations – in Japan, manga is for everyone, and caters to people of wide tastes and hobbies. Shonen Sunday and Shonen Jump target kids in junior high and high school, and manga in Japan has a much higher penetration rate than here in the USA. And, to be blunt, many of the people who read manga in the USA are not sports-oriented, and don’t enjoy reading about sports.

Cross Game has shown us that even when an author focuses on a sport, they can still manage to tell other stories. Adachi is especially adept at de-emphasizing action and the very meat-and-potatoes scenes that make most other sports manga tick – instead, he focuses on character interaction and emotion, and lets the reader fill in the blanks when it comes to action. It’s a very slick presentation that features a sport, but does not emphasize it above all other things.

Despite his perceived limited scope, it is my opinion that Mitsuru Adachi is one of greatest mangaka in Japan, rivaling Rumiko Takahashi in skill and popularity. His work is allegoric yet heartfelt, and maintains a pace and scope of storytelling unmatched by other mangaka. It seems like a tragedy that more of his writing has not yet made it to the USA, and I think that this is a problem that Viz Media and its parent companies need to rectify, so I’m making a suggestion for Viz Media‘s next Adachi release – Adachi’s 2001-2005 series Katsu!.

Katsu! is a boxing manga about a young man, Katsuki Satoyama, who joins a boxing gym to meet a girl Katsuki Mitzutani that is in his freshman class. After training a bit and sparring, he finds out that he has a latent talent for the game – and comes to discover that he is the son of a pro-boxer. The series features Adachi’s signature every-man main character and the feisty female co-lead who gives him headaches, but this time framed around the sport of boxing.

I’m sure that other people interested in Adachi would like to see his other major baseball series, H2, released in the USA, but I think that Katsu! is a much more reasonable series – like Cross Game, the series does not break 20 volumes (Katsu! is 16 volumes, Cross Game is 17). Both are more modern than H2, which ran for 34 volumes from 1992 to 1999, which isn’t necessarily a problem in art style, since Adachi has been pretty consistent with his art for the past 25 years, but I doubt that many publishers would want to start printing a 34-volume baseball epic that started print almost 20 years ago. Katsu! is a fine compromise and showcases Adachi’s ability to write about more than just baseball.

Part of what we doing an MMF is celebrate not only the story being told, but also the writer telling it. I think it is high time we let Adachi loose on American soil and get more of his manga translated into English. The stories are riveting, wonderful examples of how excellent comics can be, and Cross Game is only a taste of what he can offer to English-reading fans. Katsu! is a fine next step, and it is my hope that Cross Game does well enough to make other Adachi series viable for print in the US.

Cross Game MMF: What is Koshien?

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Welcome back to the Cross Game Manga Moveable Feast. Yesterday there was quite a bit of great writing posted for the 1st inning of the MMF, so please check with Derik and his roundups of content over at the Panelists every day for more content. I have a lot of content for everyone this week, so I hope you will all continue to revisit Manga Widget for the entirety of the MMF – I have a lot to talk about!

Cross Game is a manga about baseball, and while many of the story’s struggles and problems are based around interpersonal communication, the drama and camaraderie found in Cross Game is based on a foundation of high school sports. In this series, we can see the final sports-related goal of our main character even in the very beginning of the series (page 357 of the Vol. 1 omnibus, to be precise); that Ko and Akaishi would reach the finals of the Kōshien tournament series and win as a battery of star pitcher and catcher.

For some people, especially the youth of Japan, that would be enough – but when writers base their stories in the real world, especially if that real world is a foreign state to its readers, it helps to have a bit of background on the cultural issues they are discussing. Kōshien is a name you could throw out to any Japanese person and they could probably give you a good idea of what it was, so Adachi doesn’t have to explain it to his intended Japanese audience in Cross Game. Unfortunately, manga readers in the USA are not necessarily as proficient in Japanese cultural happenings as we could be, so this requires a little explaining.

So, what is Kōshien? And how do players get to play at Kōshien?

Kōshien is, in short, the ultimate goal of a high school baseball player.

First and foremost, Kōshien is a stadium. Located near Kobe in Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, Kōshien Stadium is the home field of the Hanshin Tigers, a professional baseball team in the Nippon Professional Baseball League (similar to our own MLB). The stadium was constructed in 1924 by the Hanshin Railway Company, and is considered the best stadium in Japan. The Hanshin Tigers are one of the oldest teams in the league, and their fans are some of the most dedicated in the entire league. Famous players from the Hanshin Tigers include Minoru Murayama and Randy Bass, current Oklahoma state senator (yes, it works both ways; the MLB recruits Japanese players an the NPBL recruits Americans).

And, just to give you an idea of how popular the high school Kōshien tournaments are – this professional team gets kicked out of its own stadium if there are conflicting games during the Kōshien tournaments.

Kōshien is simultaneously one of the most anticipated events in Japanese sports every year and the ticket for high school baseball players to enter the professional leagues. Starting at the single elimination challenges, the media buzz around the Kōshien tournaments is very big, and every game is covered on TV and radio. Review television programs, much like our SportsCenter, happen daily to recap the games of the day. Entire communities rally around competing teams, and fans outside of high school can often be rooting for two or more teams. Kōshien is the mecca of high school baseball, and playing on its “sacred dirt” is one of the biggest goals of any Japanese high school team.

Kōshien is also somewhat of a feeding ground for minor and major league baseball – players that excel in the Kōshien tournaments can be offered contracts into the major and minor league teams of Japan’s baseball association. There are two Koshien tournaments: Spring, an invitational that occurs in March, and Summer, the national high school baseball championship.

Spring Kōshien is an annual invitation only tournament whose participants are determined by the Japan High School Baseball Federation. There are 32 invitations, and the tournament itself is played in March.

Summer Kōshien is an annual nationwide high school baseball tournament that starts on August 8th of each year,  where regions of Japan host tournaments to decide which schools get sent to the final rounds of the tournament. This culminates in a two week final tournament staged with 49 teams from the 47 different prefectures of Japan (two apiece come from Hokkaido and Tokyo). The tournament is single elimination, with 15 teams getting byes for the first round while the other 34 teams play the first round. This is the tournament that Ko and his teammates will have to compete in and win in order to make Wakaba’s dream come true.

So Wakaba’s dream is not only to see her two favorite guys play ball together – it’s a lofty expectation and a demand of Ko’s ability to pitch. Can Ko and Akaishi manage to overcome and be Kōshien winners? We shall see.

Join me tomorrow as we talk about more Cross Game.

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You can find more information about Japanese Baseball at the following links:

Hanshin Koshien Stadium - Japanese
POV- Kokoyakyu, PBS

Cross Game MMF: Tsundere Is an Insult

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Welcome to the Cross Game Manga Moveable Feast here at Manga Widget -for your reading pleasure, I have an entire week of writing waiting for all of you. I love Cross Game, and I hope that our reviews, views, and opinions of the series will convince you to read and enjoy it. I know I have.

EDIT: Just to clear up some minor confusion, I am not hosting the Cross Game MMF – that lovely responsibility rests squarely on Derik Badman of The Panelists. Please check out the Panelists website for the archive page as well as content throughout this week.

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One of the sites I use from time to time is Manga Updates, which, for better or worse, is an archive of manga and what scanlation groups are currently working on. The site itself is a treasure trove of information, but it also can quickly lead people to scans of manga series, which is something I don’t endorse. I am not going to get into the scanlation debate here, because I think I have said everything I want to, but the reason I bring up Manga Updates is because of its Cross Game entry, and in particular, the use of the word “tsundere” to describe the characters (or at least one character) in Cross Game.

For the non-initiated, tsundere (ツンデレ) is a character trope that comes from two root-phrases: Tsun-tsun (ツンツン) which means to turn away in disgust, and dere-dere (デレデレ) which means to be overly affectionate. Together, they describe a female character who is inititally cold, harsh, or uncaring, generally towards the main male character, who over time becomes warmer or shows her inner niceness to others. It is a cliché that anime and the moe boom have embraced; otaku in Japan can now be catered to at a Tsundere café in Akihabara. It is a fetishized cliché, and using the term tsundere to describe Mitsuru Adachi’s female characters is not only incorrect, but also a grave insult to his work as an author.

Why would I say something drastic like that? Because I believe that the modern tsundere and moe movements represent some of the worst, otaku pandering content that is being produced in Japan today.

First, and foremost; tsundere as a trope is an oversimplification of Adachi’s female leads to the gravest extent. In Cross Game Aoba is a girl and young woman who tries her best to deal with her sister’s death as well as her own feelings for Ko Kitamura. She is an intelligent and passionate woman, a skilled baseball player, and a character who Ko emulates in order become the best pitcher he can possibly be. Over time she comes to realize his strength of character and ability on the baseball field, much as he respects and understands her strengths, even as she begins to overcome the obstacles she has put in front of herself as the result of Wakaba’s death. While it may be Ko’s story that drives the action of Cross Game, it is Aoba’s challenges and her emotions regarding the tragedy in the first volume that make the story such wonderful reading. As Aoba develops as a character, we see her fight with her loss and the realization that life can continue after the death of a loved one. We see her help Ko realize his own talent. We see her mature from a young girl in the opening pages to a young woman.

It is true that Aoba plays the foil to Ko’s placidness. She is often rude to him, and does not believe in his skill as a player. And as we see her develop, it may very well be that she will become less harsh as a character in regards to her relationship with Ko. To label this change in tone tsundere misses the essence of the relationship that Aoba and Ko have with Wakaba and each other.

Secondly (and thirdly, I guess), to call Aoba tsundere robs her of that essential depth of character and development, and makes her only an object of desire for the main character. This is a problem I have with the modern moe and tsundere market, because these shows and comics pander to otaku in a sexual way. They exist for this reason. Superimposing this sexual desire onto Cross Game voids the critical voice of the work, and by labeling a character as a tsundere girl, she becomes fetishized in the eyes of these consumers. This fetishization devalues her, and she is no longer a character written with to have both complex emotional interactions with the other lead characters as well as complex development. Instead of being a strong female character, she is now only a sex symbol and mark of attainment for the main character, and through him as a proxy, the otaku who fetishize the tsundere trope.

My bottom line – using the term tsundere to describe Aoba is a mistake a best and an insult at worst. The strength of Cross Game as a piece of fiction relies heavily on Aoba and her development as a character – to label her in this way also dismantles Cross Game as a work of fiction and converts it into a perverted fantasy. Adachi’s female characters are some of the best written in shonen manga, and to rob them of their strength and complexity in order to service a fantasy is, in my mind, abhorrent.

Review: Cross Game, Vol. 2

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Cross Game, Volume 2 Omnibus ( Japanese Vols. 4-5)
Written and Illustrated by Mitsuru Adachi
Publisher: Viz Media’s Shonen Sunday Line
Rated T – Teen
Genre: Comedy/Sports/Shonen
$14.99 US, $16.99 CAN, 376 pgs, ISBN 1421537664

Mitsuru Adachi is the one of the best, if not the most, skilled mangaka being published in English right now. That’s a pretty bold statement to make, I admit. There are wonderful artists who I’m ignoring here, like Natsume Ono, Fumi Yoshinaga, Eiichiro Oda, and Rumiko Takahashi, just to name a few. But the second volume of Cross Game has convinced me that Adachi not only knows how to set up and write a good story, he also understands how to make excellence look natural.

One of the most outstanding portions of the second volume of Cross Game is the interaction between Ko and Aoba. When Ko is out pushing himself, giving it his all, Aoba is behind him, cheering for him in her own way. When Ko wants to know how good of a pitcher he is, Aoba tells him he’s “okay… I guess,” which is probably the highest honor she can bestow upon him, and he knows it. The rivalry and friendship between these two characters drives some of the most wonderful exchanges I have ever read in a comic book.

Adachi also really knows how to draw a baseball game, which is important, considering it takes up most of the second volume. The skillful and varied panel compositions make the game between Ko’s farm team and the varsity team both exciting and energetic, while at the same time allowing Adachi to maintain the charm and wit of his characters.

The moments after the ball game are equal in quality. We see Ko humiliate himself to get an item for Wakaba’s birthday. Ko is still dealing with her loss, and we get to see that in striking detail, but without the melodrama that many writers would have injected into these scenes. The moments are significant and moving, without being overwrought.

Cross Game continues to perform when it comes to art. The scenes of the baseball game are both well drawn and fluidly composed, but the characters are also well designed and emotive. As a side note, it seems as though Adachi likes to draw these, I guess you would call them pin ups, of Aoba to separate various chapters of the book. Unlike many writers, who could use this time to get a little fan-servicey cheese in, Adachi declines. Surely, these images are meant to be admired, but Adachi never allows his characters to become overtly sexualized, which is something I admire, because it’s a road that many writers go down to the detriment of their work.

I really don’t know how to praise Cross Game more than to tell you that it is an absolute home run and if you haven’t picked up the first volume yet, you are really missing out. I can’t recommend Cross Game enough, and I think that it will continue to be the strongest series in print for as long as the series is in print in the USA. I hope that readers latch on to this series – it is the strongest piece of fiction in Viz Media‘s Shonen Sunday collection, and, perhaps, the strongest work in their entire catalog. I implore you to try it and see what the entire manga blogsphere is talking about. You won’t be disappointed.

Talking Points: What Is Your Favorite Manga?

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I thought we would be a bit different today here at Manga Widget by asking a very simple question that generally takes a bit of thinking – what manga series do you consider your favorite?

For a bibliophile like myself, that is a hard question to answer, because I tend to categorize what I read. I love some slapstick humor and a bit of epic fighting, so One Piece is a lot of fun, but at the same time, I really enjoy progressing, difficult, adult relationships, so Bunny Drop is also really good.

Slice of life manga is my favorite type of story, and of all the manga series I read, I do have one clear favorite, which is Cross Game by Mitsuru Adachi. The second omnibus from Viz Media really stole my heart; after the end of the volume, I knew that I would be hooked until the end. This is only a recent favorite; as we grow and change, so do our favorites. For the longest time Negima! was my favorite series for its rambunctious cast, epic battles, and beautiful illustration.

Things gets even more complicated when you start asking which authors you like best. Certainly I like Mitsuru Adachi, but he only has one series in print right now, and we haven’t really gotten a good representation of his work published in the USA. With that in mind, I am a huge fan of Natsumi Ono, Jiro Taniguchi, and Fumi Yoshinaga, but I am also developing a taste for Kan Takahama, whose work has been published by Fanfare / Ponent Mon.

Now that I’ve bared it all for you to see, it is your turn! Let’s talk – what manga series do you call your favorite? What authors do you call your favorites?

The Manga Widget Top 10 of 2010 Manga Countdown

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Despite a large number of industry setbacks, 2010 has been a very good year for manga fans. We have seen an increase in alternative manga, and we’ve seen publishers begin to increase their output for adult readers. Writers like Natsume Ono and Fumi Yoshinaga are being published more heavily, and good content keeps rolling out from Viz Media. Many of the premier alt-comics publishers, such as Top Shelf, Drawn and Quarterly, and Fantagraphics have all begun to work with manga. TokyoPop seems to be back on track. Multiple publishers have started to look into digital publishing, and although right now the releases for digital are scarce or uniplatformed, it’s a definite start.

Things weren’t all hugs and roses though.  I was personally shocked and outraged when CMX was shuttered by parent company DC Comics, especially in such an abrupt fashion. Kodansha’s takeover of the Del Rey manga line definitely raised a few eyebrows, but it was harder for me to sympathize with the company since its communications and poor website design did not help its cause. Smaller publishers like Go! Comi have also faded into the great murky beyond, while larger companies like Viz Media faced large-scale restructuring in the wake of a stagnant and depressed economy.

All that bad stuff aside, we’ve had a surprising amount of quality comics reach US shores this year. Here are my picks for the best manga of 2010.

Manga Widget Notice: In order to be chosen for manga of the year 2010, a series in question must have been in print during 2010, and had a first edition of a volume of that series be printed during 2010. This means that any long-standing manga still in print is eligible for my nomination process. Manga that started print in 2010 received a greater amount of influence in the decision-making process, since these manga are purely from 2010.

10. Butterflies, Flowers

While technically the first volume of Butterflies, Flowers was released in December of 2009, the majority of the series has been printed in 2010, so I feel like it qualifies for my list this year. Butterflies, Flowers is a manga I like to celebrate for a few reasons, but the most prominent of these is that Viz is finally letting a little josei sneak into their Shojo Beat lineup. I love the idea of the dominating member of the relationship changing at the spark of a tone or whim, and I like the identity rolls that The comic is funny, sexy, and a good read. Butterflies, Flowers also represents to me the adaptation of the industry to the aging otaku. We’re getting a bit older, and now we like to see some things that are a bit more mature. Butterflies, Flowers is a good step in that direction, and so it places #10 on my list.

9. Pluto, Vol. 8

Naoki Urasawa is a gift to comics readers everywhere. He has the ability to create suspenseful stories that give their reader a chance to think about deeper topics without being preachy. His series Pluto marries Osamu Tezuka’s Astro Boy with a deep psychological drama that focuses on the concepts of the soul, the essence of memory and human emotion, and what separates humans from robots or artificial intelligence. The last volume of this series is probably the most beautiful, and it pays direct homage to the Astro Boy arc it is derived from while simultaneously changing the story forever. Pluto is a striking example of how Viz Media’s Signature line can be a window to vast amounts of non-standard manga that still has plenty of relevance for today’s manga reader, and that’s why it rings in at #9.

8.  Chi’s Sweet Home

Some manga doesn’t need to have sweeping drama and intelligent plot, or witty dialogue; it just needs a cute kitten. Chi’s Sweet Home shows how lovingly a manga can be produced, and shows that manga can reach an audience further than expected, especially when the story is as universal as Chi’s Sweet Home is. Chi is also a great learning tool for children, showing them proper pet care while entertaining with kitty antics. Vertical’s excellent production values bring a cheery, bright tone to this fun manga. This is especially important, both for companies looking to expand their reach, but also for manga as a culture. Being able to transcend boundaries is what makes comics such a valuable experience, and Chi has this in spades. For its beautiful production, universal theme, and its reach beyond the manga fandom, Chi’s Sweet Home makes it to #8 on my Best of 2010 list.

7. Suppli Vol 4+5

The first volume of Suppli was released in 2007; now, three years later, we’re finally receiving the fourth and fifth volumes. Most manga bloggers know and love Suppli, but it is a bit obscure. Let me be blunt: Suppli is a beautiful title. Suppli’s sensuous art, sophisticated style, and complex characters make it a good pick alone, but the reason why I want to feature Suppli is not only because it is a great comic, but also because it’s a promise kept. When TokyoPop put the series on hiatus in late 2008, I thought that it had been doomed to obscurity. TP promised they would bring back the series that they had stopped printing, but I was skeptical. My skepticism turned out to be ill-conceived, and how wonderful that it was. For finding time and the funds to keep promises made, and for being a great josei comic in a world of shojo, Suppli checks in at #7 on my list this year.

6. Twin Spica

I didn’t realize how much I would like Twin Spica when I bought the first volume, but in retrospect, I should have known that this book would be spectacular for a person like me. The unique art, the focus on space travel, and the slice-of-life story-telling are all big positives in my book, and Vertical has proven that the title has the legs to make it through the eventual 16 volumes it will finish at. Ed Sizemore’s Manga Out Loud podcast on Twin Spica reminded me that the first volume came out in May of 2010, and the first quarter of the series has been released in a single year. The first four volumes have done some excellent character building, and the story continues to build layers and expand in a very natural way. For excellent story-telling, character building, and plot progression, Twin Spica makes it to #6 on the list.

5. Cross Game

Mitsuru Adachi is probably one of the best-known mangaka in Japan that has yet to hit it big in the US, mostly because he chooses to write manga about sports, which traditionally have not done very well in the US. This is a shame, because if Cross Game is any indication of his previous work, his writing is a veritable gold-mine of excellent content waiting to be translated and imported to manga readers in the US. His pacing is some of the best in the industry, his cartooning is lovely without being overly complicated, his characters are memorable, and his stories are often funny, sometimes heart-wrenching, always excellent. When the three volume omnibus of Cross Game was released, I gave it an excellent score, and I believe it’s the best new shonen series Viz Media has released within the past few years. For finally introducing us to Adachi-sensei and his wonderful work, Cross Game hits the half-way mark on my Top 10 Manga of 2010.

4.  Bunny Drop

One piece of manga that is sorely under-represented in manga buy lists this year is Bunny Drop, a manga about parenting that shows a realistic portrait of what challenges a new parent is faced with. The series doesn’t move at a break-neck pace and for that reason it works where other series might fall short.  Some have called Bunny Drop the “not-funny Yotsuba&!, but I find the series much more enjoyable than Yotsuba&!. The strength of the protagonist, his development as a new father, and the trials of young Rin are detailed in an elegant way that shows the stress of buying desks and bookbags, the trials of learning to cook healthy meals and take on responsibilities. Most importantly, Bunny Drop shows us that love and trust must be earned, and are an essential part of the human condition. For being so human, and so lovely, Bunny Drop manages to snuggle its way into #4 on my Best of 2010 countdown.

3. AX Vol. 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga

AX was a bit of a cipher for me. It was hard for me to tell whether or not I loved the collection, or if I didn’t think that much of it. The strength of each short story varied wildly, with some being divine, while others just seemed like glorified poop jokes. The wide array of styles and story-types did have one thing in common: they defied the convention of what comics are. While I may not have liked every story in AX, I recognize that it is a showcase of what’s possible. Comics are a window to the human mind, and sometimes what is behind that window isn’t easy to discern or even look at. For telling the stories that need to be told, for bringing alternative comics from Japan to the US, for opening doors that we sometimes prefer to stay closed, and for showcasing a lot of excellent unknown talent, AX Vol. 1: A Collection of Alternative Manga makes it to #3 on my list.

2. A Drunken Dream and Other Stories

Unlike AX, which showcased multiple short stories by different authors, A Drunken Dream and Other Stories collected some powerful short stories by one author: a legendary ‘49er, Moto Hagio. These stories have been handsomely collected in a way that truly celebrates Hagio as an artist. Her stories are profound, artistic, and oftentimes heart-breaking. A Drunken Dream goes further than this, giving contextual information in two separate essays by translator Matt Thorn which explore the themes and inspirations of Hagio. For giving us context, for showing us beautiful stories, and for delving into the work of a woman that changed girls comics forever, A Drunken Dream reaches #2 on my list.

And finally… my #1 pick is -

1. Ayako

It is no surprise that I value Ayako quite highly. In my opinion, it is one of the best Tezuka pieces currently in print, and continues to show that Osamu Tezuka was truly the god of manga. Here’s and abbreviated version of what I had to say about the book in my review:

Panel after panel flows effortlessly, composed in such a way that it draws you in, despite the cartoonish characters that Tezuka is so well known for. His scenery and backgrounds show a vibrant land slowly weighed down by filth and corruption… While I have been dismissive of Tezuka’s work in the past, I am fully convinced by Ayako… This book is one of Vertical’s finer achievements and a must-have for any Tezuka or intelligent comics fan.

My statements still hold true after a third reading; Ayako is the manga that no reader should go without this year. It is a testament to Tezuka’s skills as an author, and Vertical’s skill at producing a beautiful book and work of art.

I hope that you enjoyed my Top 10 of 2010 (even if I said I wasn’t going to do one a few weeks ago). As always, comments, critiques, and discussion is encouraged in the comments section!

Review: Cross Game, Vol. 1

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Some of my critics are quick to point out that I don’t give very many high scores on my reviews. I generally don’t have nice things to say about the books I read, and I don’t really give out high marks on my reviews at Manga Village. I don’t know if this is because I have a high standard for the materials I read, or if I just want to be as honest as possible about the content so that people can get an opinion before they go out and buy the manga. I think it is probably a mix of these two personal factors and one key point I constantly fail to remember: the manga I read and review oftentimes are not written with me in mind.

When I received the Cross Game omnibus a few weeks ago, I worked through it with a bit of trepidation. I love baseball, so I was worried that the manga would either be too preachy about the rules or have large errors in gameplay that would make my enjoyment suffer. My misgivings were buffered by the fact that the 3-volume omnibus format was a good deal, and I wasn’t out much if I found I didn’t like it. As I read though, I become confused, and suddenly, delighted. Around page 120, I discovered that I had finally found my manga holy grail. Cross Game is the first manga I have found that has been written especially for me.

Cross Game focuses on a young boy named Ko Kitamura and his interaction with the four Tsukishima girls that live down the street from him. Ko’s father sells sports paraphernalia, and the Tsukishimas operate a batting cage and cafe, so the already close families often intertwine through the sport of baseball. After a tragic event in the first volume, the manga skips forward to Ko’s last year in junior high, and Adachi adeptly tells the story of Ko’s growth as a person and as a baseball player. Along the way we meet people who know Ko through school, through the Tsukishima family, and through baseball.

At first I was confused by the subtlety of the book. Things play out in a very natural manner, and it’s hard to know whether or not you’re reading a book or just looking out the window at the kids next door. I didn’t think I was very impressed with the storytelling. After reaching the tragedy in book one, and the aftermath in pages 170-189, I realized I was crying. What powerful storytelling! This is slice-of-life story writing at its finest.

I am enamored with all of the characters of Cross Game. Adachi has developed a cast of characters that are beautiful, flawed, and compelling. The minor school-yard dramas and flashbacks throughout the first three volumes of Cross Game are not only there to give pieces of the storyline to the reader, but also manage to develop the tension between characters and the characters themselves in a even fashion. Adachi has some of the best pacing I’ve ever seen in a comic book. His scenes flow smoothly from one to another, and the result is a refreshing, heartwarming comic that can eat hours of your time as you flip from page to page.

Adachi also has some of the most remarkable art I’ve seen in a manga. His character designs focus more on round shapes and less on hard lines. They’re subtle and remind me of Rumiko Takahashi, especially her content from the late 1980s and ’90s. I love Rumiko’s art, so it was no surprise that I was also a fan of Adachi. However, Adachi takes it a step further with panels composed without characters, as a sort of cutaway still shot made popular by famous director Yasujiro Ozu. Called a “pillow shot,” they work in the same manner as “pillow words” in Japanese poetry. These scenes are punctuation for the story, and give us a moment to truly comprehend what is happening in the lives of these characters.   Adachi has drawn for us images of schoolyards, baseball fields, and trains. They are beautifully drawn pages and panels, and smooth the tension and make the setting of the manga that much more believable.

Viz did a great job with this omnibus format. If I have any complaints about the manga, it is that it gets off to a bit of a slow start. Giving the reader three volumes of manga for a good price not only helps sell the book, but it helps sell the story. Giving you a 600-page introduction to the series helps you become attached to the characters where publishing the volumes as individual books probably would harm the series’ survivability in the currently tight manga market. The book also is bound very well for its size, and it is freely readable without breaking the spine.

If you haven’t read Cross Game yet, you’re missing out on what I think is probably the best manga of 2010 published in English. It is subtle, heart-breaking, life-affirming, and just a damn good read. Go out and grab yourself a copy now.