Hissing 6 by Kang EunYoung: B+

March 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Ten years ago, when Sun-Nam’s father and Da-Eh’s mother had an affair, the result was Da-Hwa, their half brother. In high school, Sun-Nam and Da-Eh began dating without being aware of their family connection, but in volume five all of that came out into the open. Da-Eh reacted badly, saying some nasty things to Da-Hwa that she immediately regretted. When he was hit by a car and hospitalized, his family rallied to his side.

Volume six picks up with Da-Hwa’s awakening in the hospital. Da-Eh makes good on her vow to treat him more kindly and fusses over him in a major way. It’s very sweet to see all of his siblings get together and lavish attention on him, though he is still so eager to please that he tells them he feels fine even when he’s in pain. The scenes of all of them together are happy indeed but so fraught with tension that I had to flip ahead to see what was going to happen.

As far as final volumes go, this is a very satisfying one. There’s a good balance between humorous and more emotional moments. Every subplot is resolved, but not in a way that feels too tidy. The only complaint I could make is that Sun-Nam’s irritating brothers made it all the way through the series without contributing much of anything to the story.

I started off disliking Hissing, but by the end I kind of loved it. That’s pretty amazing.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Manhwa Tagged With:

Monkey High! 5 by Shouko Akira: B+

March 30, 2009 by Leave a Comment

When reserved, intelligent Haruna transferred into a new high school, she never expected to fall for the most chipper and scrawny guy in her class. That’s exactly what happened, though, and she and Macharu have now been dating for a year.

In this volume, some difficulties arise in the lead characters’ relationship. It’s not as if they fight in dramatic fashion, but because they see the world differently, they sometimes have trouble understanding each other. Macharu is very open and optimistic while Haruna is neither of those things (she doesn’t even have any internal monologues). She seeks to protect herself and in, so doing, occasionally gives Macharu the impression that she doesn’t care about things that are important to him. Add in the complication that Macharu’s best friend, Atsu, actually sees and understands this side of Haruna better than Macharu does, and you’ve got an interesting romantic triangle forming.

On the negative side, in five volumes of the series, nearly every chapter has centered on the kind of event that veteran manga readers will have seen dozens of times before: a date to an amusement park, a trip to the beach, a summer festival, major holidays, et cetera. It grows quite tiresome. Too, while the art in general is good, some pages are so slathered with screen tone that they are positively grey.

Still, even though I can already predict that the next volume will prominently feature Valentine’s Day in some capacity, I’m looking forward to seeing how the drama plays out.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Monkey High! 4 by Shouko Akira: B+

March 28, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Macharu’s best friend Atsu is really starting to fall for Haruna, especially since she’s been working at the same place he works and they’ve been spending more and more time together. With a jealous Macharu waiting and a persistent Atsu pursuing, who is Haruna going to choose in this bizarre love triangle?

Review:
I think I’m just gonna have to resign myself to semi-clichéd outings and a meddlesome bunch of friends with this series, because neither appears to be going anywhere any time soon.

Summer is approaching and, with it, opportunities for chapters about going to the beach, watching fireworks while wearing a yukata, et cetera. As before, Akira-sensei skillfully uses these familiar backdrops to develop her main characters. In the first chapter, we get some follow-up on the end of volume three, where Haruna admitted that she was uncertain of her own capabilities, seeing as how her father’s clout might’ve been responsible for her past successes. Now, when the opportunity comes to start a part-time job at a café, she goes for it, saying that she’s been inspired to try new things.

Macharu is supportive, but once he spots that Haruna and his best friend, Atsu, also an employee at the café, are becoming a bit more friendly, he begins to grow jealous. It’s something he can’t shake even by the end of the volume, despite Haruna saying that she wants to be closer with him and various occasions where she reinforces that he is the one that she likes. Playboy Atsu, too, seems to be growing more serious in his feelings about Haruna, and takes his mission to pester Macharu to the point that Yuko—one of those omnipresent supporting characters whose name I finally learned—comments, “Atsu, sometimes I just don’t know if you’re teasing Macharu or actually trying to sabotage him.”

I continue to like the relationship between the main characters, especially that Haruna continues to be quite unabashed in initiating smoochy time. In this volume, they talk about one day doing more than just kissing, and also admit that they’re scared. “It’s difficult to see where this love is headed.” It’s moments like these that enable scenes with overly familiar settings to seem like something new and unique. Too, it’s also difficult for a reader to see where this love is headed. While I highly doubt that Haruna will chose to be with Atsu in the end, I definitely think that interesting times lie ahead.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

xxxHOLiC 13 by CLAMP: A-

March 28, 2009 by 3 Comments

From the back cover:
The medium Kohane-chan has been punched and bruised on national TV, but still her controlling mother is forcing her to go on the air. Now Kimihiro steps between the rebellious young psychic and her raging mother, only to take the beating himself. See the dramatic conclusion of Kohane-chan’s story!

Review:
What a perfect manga to read on a rainy day!

The majority of the plot revolves around Kohane-chan, whom I’ve never been very interested in. After a series of television apperances in which she seems to be inaccurate because lesser psychics can not see all that she can, public opinion turns against her. After being pressured by her mother to be “right,” even if it means lying, Kohane instead basically destroys her own career so that it’ll all be over.

I was kind of wondering why this story was occupying center stage, but then the words of Kohane’s mother hit home. Though her mother had been wishing for something day in and day out, it had never come true. This is a direct parallel to Watanuki’s current situation. Last volume, he learned that his entire existence may be a dream, but if he wishes hard enough, it might become reality. Now he’s confronted with proof that—if one has the wrong kind of wish, a hurtful wish—that’s not so easy to achieve.

Still, he’s determined to try and to not take for granted the people with whom he comes in contact, which results in him being much nicer to Doumeki than before. I particularly love the scene where Doumeki is chastising Watanuki for allowing Kohane’s mother to hit him while at the same time Watanuki is inquiring about how many rice balls Doumeki would like and what he’d like inside them. It seems like a small thing, but Watanuki has never so graciouly offered to fulfill Doumeki’s culinary requests in this manner.

I’m still pretty confused about what exactly Watanuki’s situation is. Is he living in a dream, peopled by dream characters? Or is he dreaming that he is part of reality, and only certain people can see him? He was concerned, for instance, that the receptionists at the television studio where Kohane’s appearance was being broadcast would not be able to see him. It’s possible he’s right, as a member of the production team later says, “Get Kohane and her mother off screen” when Watanuki is there, too. Perhaps they saw him merely as superfluous, but perhaps they didn’t see him at all.

Like the previous volume, quite a lot of intriguing information is revealed in the final few pages. Yuuko also remarks that, “Very soon, that time will finally come.” Could it be that an end is in sight?

Filed Under: Manga, Seinen, Supernatural Tagged With: ,

The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya by Nagaru Tanigawa: B-

March 27, 2009 by Leave a Comment

Even if you haven’t consumed it in any format, any otaku worthy of the name has at least heard of The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. The anime has been released by Bandai Entertainment, Yen Press is putting out the manga, but now, courtesy of Little, Brown and Company (also part of the Hachette Book Group along with Yen Press) we finally have the story in its original light novel form. Because I generally tend to like the first incarnation of a tale more than its adaptations, it was the light novel that most appealed to me.

The story is told from the retrospective point of view of a teenage boy known only as Kyon. As a kid, Kyon dreamed of fighting aliens—preferably as a sidekick rather than someone who had to actually engage in combat—and encountering a mysterious transfer student with extraordinary powers. He eventually grew out of such ideas, but he discovers that not everyone his age has done the same when, on the first day of high school, his classmate Haruhi Suzumiya uses her class introduction to instruct all aliens, time travelers, and espers to seek her out.

Haruhi spurns contact with normal humans, but Kyon’s able to get through to her by talking about the topics that actually interest her. He seals his own fate when he suggests to Haruhi, despondent over not finding any clubs that deal with her interests, that she create a club of her own. He’s instantly drafted as the first member of the “SOS Brigade” and caught up in Haruhi’s obsession to seek out and observe mysterious happenings.

As the story progresses, the other members of the club confess to Kyon that they actually are an alien, a time traveler, and an esper and provide proof to back up their claims (ultimately fulfilling Kyon’s childhood dreams). They’ve each come to study Haruhi, for she unknowingly has the ability to make her wishes reality, and the current world exists as it does because of her. Kyon’s job is to make sure she stays satisfied with this world and doesn’t seek to recreate it. One thing I never realized before reading the novel is that the melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is actually a dangerous thing. The title doesn’t refer simply to her dissatisfaction with the mundane, but to the destruction that begins to occur when she grows despondent.

There are some elements of the writing and the story that work for me—like some snicker-worthy bits and the creative backstories for the other club members—but likewise there are things that bug me. For example, the prose is liberally sprinkled with cheesy similes that compare smiles to sunflowers in a grassy field, exhalations to fluttering butterflies, et cetera. I’m not sure if that’s Tanigawa’s idea of good writing or if it’s supposed to be Kyon’s view of same.

Too, I’m quite bothered by Haruhi’s treatment of Mikuru Asahina. Haruhi nabs Mikuru because she believes that every story features a moe character, so having Mikuru around will increase the chances of something interesting happening. She forces Mikuru to dress in skimpy costumes and is continually groping her and photographing her in provocative poses. This element of the story shows several characters in their worst light: Haruhi as bossy and thoughtless, Mikuru as weepy and simpering, and Kyon as a creepy horndog who finds Mikuru’s distressed reactions appealing and saves a folder of her risqué photos for his “private viewing pleasure.”

The actual sci-fi plot of the story is fairly intriguing and the book is a quick and easy read. Unfortunately, because it is a light novel, it never gets as dark or as deep as I personally would’ve liked. Still, because Haruhi is capable of shaping the world to her liking, there are a lot of places the story could go from here.

The back cover blurb notes that Tanigawa is currently working on the tenth installment in the series.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Books, Light Novel, Sci-Fi Tagged With:

Runaways 8: Dead End Kids by Joss Whedon: B+

March 24, 2009 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Rebellious teens Nico, Chase, Karolina, Molly, Victor and Xavin are survivors. All children of super-villains, they turned against their evil elders to become amateur super heroes. But when the authorities chase them out of Los Angeles, the Runaways forge an uneasy alliance with East Coast crime boss Kingpin, placing them on a collision course with the killer vigilante, Punisher. The ensuing disaster hurls the kids a century backward in time, trapping them in 1907 New York—home of child labor, quaint technology, and competing gangs of super-folk known as “Wonders.” Can the Runaways get back to the future? Find out in a timeless tale of comedy, romance, and old-fashioned heroism!

Review:
The whole reason I began reading Runaways in the first place was because of the news that Joss Whedon would be writing an arc. I was not disappointed. While elements of the plot are rather lacking, there is some great character development, which could be said for quite a few episodes of Buffy, as well.

Volume seven ended with a cliffhanger, though it’s been so long that I don’t remember any details. That’s okay, though, since this arc ignores that entirely. We open with some unseen observers introducing the team and their abilities, and then transition to a meeting between the Runaways and Kingpin, a big (figuratively and literally) crime boss in New York. It seems they’ve fled Los Angeles to get away from the Avengers, and so are forming an alliance with this guy in exchange for a place to hide. He agrees to protect them, but they must steal something for him.

The item in question turns out to be an apparently one-way time jump thingie that a couple of the Runaways’ parents made, so they appropriate it and end up using it to escape a fight, ending up in 1907. And here’s where the plot gets really confusing. In 1907, those with super powers are called “wonders,” and there’s a couple of different factions of them. It’s entirely impossible, however, to keep track of who is affiliated with what faction, who’s good, who’s bad, if we’re supposed to be rooting for anyone in particular, et cetera. There’s also a pretty lame love plot between Victor (the cyborg) and a girl he meets.

There are also many good character moments, however, and quite a few funny lines. Chase seems to get the amusing Xander-type dialogue, like, “And I in no way am a part of that he said that” and “That’s more than the usual amount of ninjas.” Each character gets some development here, but most notably Nico, who powers up in quite a major way and whose personality grows more grim and dark as a result. Relationships between characters also change in various ways; I particularly like the conversation between Nico and Chase near the end of the volume.

Kudos, too, to penciler Michael Ryan and colorist Christina Strain for producing some of the nicest, most consistent comic book art I have seen in ages. Maybe ever. Inconsistency in character faces is my major complaint about American comics, but I didn’t notice any instances of that at all in this arc. Too, there are some nicely colored bits, particularly a scene where Karolina and Nico are talking outside at night and the alien glow of the former is reflected upon the latter’s face.

Dead End Kids would work okay as a stand-alone, especially given the character intros at the beginning, but many of the quieter moments would probably lack resonance if one were unfamiliar with what came before. The easy solution to that, of course, is to start from the beginning!

Filed Under: Comics, Sci-Fi Tagged With:

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer: D

March 24, 2009 by 16 Comments

twilightcoverFrom the back cover:
About three things I was absolutely positive.

First, Edward was a vampire.

Second, there was a part of him—and I didn’t know how dominant that part might be—that thirsted for my blood.

And third, I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

Review:
I can’t say I wasn’t warned. Often and at length, as a matter of fact. Still, I wanted to make up my own mind about the series, and felt that I couldn’t legitimately mock something if I had no basis for my comments. So I read it. And let me be clear about one thing: all of those warnings were absolutely right.

If you don’t know by now, Twilight is the story of Bella Swan, our klutzy and apparently delicious-smelling heroine, who moves to the perpetually overcast town of Forks to live with her father. There, she encounters Edward Cullen, who, we are told many times, is the personification of physical perfection. He also happens to be a vampire, and does things like save Bella from getting hit by a car, follow her when she and her friends go shopping in another town, and break into her house to watch her sleep. Which isn’t creepy at all.

For the first 80% of the book or so, there’s really no plot. There’s just Bella and Edward encountering each other, him aloof at first (but only because he’s trying to resist her extra-tasty aroma) and her growing increasingly more infatuated with him. Edward’s fond of sending mixed messages, too, like saying, “You need to stay away from me” and then promptly inviting her on a jaunt to Seattle. Maybe this is supposed to be the plot, because it happens several times—Edward threatening to go away or angsting that she’s better off without him, but in the end, not going anywhere.

He eventually opens up and shares more vampire facts—culminating in the unintentionally hilarious scene where he reveals his ability to sparkle in the sunlight. Yes, really. Towards the end, Meyer realizes she needs some conflict or something, so a vampire with tracking abilities is introduced and sets his sights on Bella, forcing all of Edward’s vampy brethren to take her into hiding to protect her. Bella asks Edward to make her a vampire so she can be safe and stay with him forever and ever, but he claims to know what’s best for her and refuses to comply. Then they go to prom.

Besides being almost unbearably dull, Twilight sometimes cracked me up with its lame writing. I snickered every time Bella, when pondering Edward’s latest directive to keep her distance, claimed that she was “gripped in a sudden agony of despair.” There are lots of lines about how Edward is her whole life now, and how “his liquid topaz eyes were penetrating” and his breath makes her mouth water, et cetera, but here’s my favorite:

His expression slowly folded into a mask of ancient sadness.

Seriously, that is making me giggle even now.

Neither Bella nor Edward is particularly likable. There’s one scene where a friend of Bella’s father tries to warn her away from dating Edward, and I’m sure I was supposed to sympathize with her because of this meddling adult but all I could think of was how bratty and rude she was being. One could argue I’m simply too old to appreciate this book, but there’s at least one person at work around my age who’s quite vocal about her love for the series.

About the only marginally interesting apsects of the book are the backstories of Edward’s family and how they became vampires. Even so, I find that a single sentence is the limit of the praise I can summon.

Lastly, I leave you with this comic I drew for my coworker’s eleven-year-old daughter, whose bedroom is a Twilight museum but whom I also successfully hooked on Buffy. Tremble before my leet artistic skills.

Filed Under: Books, Supernatural, YA

The Devil’s Trill by Sooyeon Won: B-

March 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The Devil’s Trill is the fourth volume of NETCOMICS’ Manhwa Novella Collection—an anthology of short stories from Korean authors. This particular volume is by Sooyeon Won, creator of Let Dai. Melodramatic in the extreme but entertaining nonetheless, I reviewed it for Comics Should Be Good.

Filed Under: Manhwa, Supernatural Tagged With: ,

Very! Very! Sweet 3 by JiSang Shin and Geo: B

March 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment

When volume two left off, Tsuyoshi’s girlfriend from Japan, Erica, had made the trip to Korea to see him. In this volume, it’s made clear that the relocation is permanent and she enrolls in the school that he and Be-Ri attend. She proceeds to be incredibly irritating for the duration of the volume.

While I dislike Erica extremely, she is at least useful in prompting some cool moments from the two leads. For instance, it’s very satisfying when Be-Ri criticizes her for not caring about anything but Tsuyoshi, saying, “It’s sad that you think the most fun thing in life is a guy. Personally, I think it’s disgusting.” Similarly pleasing is the scene where Tsuyoshi calmly informs her that coming to Korea is “a life-changing decision” for him and that he’d like her to stay out of the picture.

On the negative side, it seemed that Be-Ri is more crude and profane in this volume than she has been before, though it never really approaches the point of tastelessness. And even I had to giggle at the discovery that the precious ceramic item treasured by Tsuyoshi’s family as an heirloom of their Korean ancestry is actually a chamber pot.

When a series can be consistently entertaining despite the intrusion of an unlikable character, I’d say that makes it a keeper.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Manhwa Tagged With:

The Adventures of Young Det 2 by Gyojeong Kwon: A-

March 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment

The prologue that began in volume one continues and is concluded in this second volume. It’s the story of Lazarus, an immensely talented human sorcerer, and the Ferat, leader of a race of seers whose prophecies always come true. As the rest of the world begins to react to the prediction that a great dragon will be summoned to lay waste to the world, Lazarus and the Ferat remain holed away, enjoying their magic lessons and each other’s company. They’re largely oblivious to the fact that sorcerers are being targeted by frightened humans seeking to prevent the summoning of the dragon, and are caught unawares when an attack is launched against the Ferat and the people she leads.

One of the things I like most about The Adventures of Young Det is how even little things can turn out to be important. For example, Lazarus and the Ferat each have a magical specialty and talk a lot about the specifics of high-level spells within their disciplines, which makes sense for a plot featuring an exchange of magical knowledge. However, it turns out that understanding how these spells work is also crucial to appreciating the prologue’s surprising outcome.

The main story begins in the second half of the volume. Det and Osen are two young men living in a secluded village. Det, in particular, is restless and can’t abide the notion of settling down there, inheriting the family shop, and never doing anything special. In the final chapter, they set off on their journey.

At first, I’d wondered why Kwon began the series with a prologue, but now I see the advantages. When Det and Osen encounter a woman who is clearly descended from the Ferat’s people, for example, we readers recognize her for what she is. Too, making it so firmly clear that the Ferat’s prophecies always come true makes it seem possible that the heroes’ quest, whenever they actually embark upon it, might actually fail, which is seldom a real concern in typical fantasy fiction.

Compelling characters, surprising plot twists, beautiful art, politics, magic, romance, and tragedy… If any appeals to you, then you should be reading The Adventures of Young Det.

Review copy provided by the publisher. Review originally published at Manga Recon.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manhwa Tagged With:
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