Hikaru no Go 13-17 by Yumi Hotta and Takeshi Obata: A

February 21, 2010 by 3 Comments

These five volumes represent the emotional crux of the series and, as such, plot spoilers will be discussed. Proceed at your own risk.

I’m always sorry when I fall far behind on a series that I love, but when it results in half a dozen volumes to read at once, the pleasure of catching up makes the wait worthwhile. These five volumes are the most important and emotionally resonant of the series so far; the story could’ve ended quite satisfactorily after volume seventeen and, indeed, that’s exactly what the anime does.

We begin with the oteai, a tournament to decide players’ ranks. Hikaru is scheduled to play Akira, and is all excited about it, but the sudden collapse of Akira’s father means he misses the match and forfeits the game. After some pestering from Sai, Hikaru goes to visit Toya Meijin in the hospital and, after hearing that the Meijin has been occupying himself with internet go, sweetly arranges for Sai to get the match of his dreams via that medium. The suspense is built up expertly, causing international spazzery amongst the internet go world and attracting the attention of a lot of Japanese pros, as well.

The game between Sai and the Meijin is very beautifully drawn. There’s a lovely sequence where Sai settles onto a chair occupied by Hikaru, and for the rest of the multi-chapter match we only ever see a silent and composed Sai in that chair as they play their lengthy and suspenseful game. I’m so happy to see this longed-for moment get the attention it deserves and to see how satisfied and grateful Sai looks after his victory.

Besides Sai getting his wish, two very important things occur as a result of this match. The first is that the Meijin has been reinvigorated and begins to try daring things. He had pledged to retire if Sai beat him and, though Hikaru pleads with him not to keep his word, it’s actually quite a freeing experience for the Meijin since he’s no longer obligated to keep to a rigid tournament schedule and can now develop his game in innovative ways. The second thing is that Hikaru is able to spot where exactly the Meijin went wrong, prompting Sai to realize that his whole ghostly existence has been to get Hikaru to this point. His work on this plane is swiftly drawing to a close.

I’m really glad that I was able to experience this story arc via the anime first because the back cover and chapter titles of volume fifteen announce far in advance that Sai is really going to disappear—with the anime, I was able to hold out hope ’til the last minute. Even with my prior exposure to this event, it’s still quite dreadful to witness Sai’s jealousy of Hikaru’s future and eventual acceptance of his fate, and even worse when his pleas to Hikaru go unheeded because Hikaru simply can’t imagine that Sai really will disappear, since he’s been around for a thousand years thus far. It’s perfectly in character for a teenage boy to behave this way, so it’s not as if Hikaru’s the villain here, but knowing how much he was going to blame himself later made it much more painful.

Even while Sai’s disappearance is extremely sad, it’s Hikaru’s reaction that is far worse. He desperately looks for Sai at sites connected with Shusaku, getting his hopes up and dashed each time. He’s in denial for quite some time, but when he hits the bargaining stage, the raw grief really pours out. When he discovers records of Shusaku’s games in a remote room at the Go Association, he belatedly realizes the depth of Sai’s genius. Because Shusaku was a seasoned player when he met Sai, he knew when to bow out to a superior talent. Hikaru blames himself for developing a passion of his own and depriving Sai of opportunities to play. He promises not to play anymore if only Sai will come back.

While Hikaru proceeds to frustrate everyone by being a no-show at his matches, focus shifts to Isumi. He’s spent some time alone to recover from his failure to pass the pro test, and is now part of a group going to play goodwill games in China. With some good advice from a Chinese pro, Isumi returns a much stronger and confident player. In the anime, this arc seemed so out of place I figured it must be filler, especially given the bratty little kid who looks like Waya, but it actually goes by much more quickly in the manga and, in fact, reinforces part of what makes Hikaru no Go such a satisfying read: it doesn’t forget its supporting characters and occasionally offers a glimpse of what’s happening in their lives.

Upon Isumi’s return, he seeks out Hikaru, who hasn’t played in months, still thinking he can bring Sai back with his abstinence. Isumi succeeds in cajoling Hikaru into a game and it’s there, finally, where Hikaru finds Sai. It’s such a lovely scene, in which Hikaru breaks down at the simplicity of it all. “Sai… is it… is it all right for me to play?” he thinks, seeking his mentor’s blessing to go back to the world he loves.

Volume seventeen finds a focused Hikaru returning to his matches and showing much more maturity. The second big match-up that needed to happen comes into play here, when Hikaru and Akira face each other in the preliminaries of the Meijin tournament. The build-up is suitably suspenseful, as it should be when it’s been two years and four months since they last faced each other. The game itself is marvelous—“You will be my life-long rival,” Akira thinks at one point—but it’s much more wonderful that Akira figures it out. He realizes that Sai was within Hikaru all this time, and can tell because he knows Hikaru better than anyone. The fact that Akira finds Sai just reduces me to sniffles every time and Hikaru’s happiness about the fact is very moving as well.

The perfect capper to this volume is the dream visit Hikaru receives from Sai, and I find myself torn. Do I wish the manga had ended here, just like the anime? It really feels like a perfectly natural place to wrap things up, though the anime does add a little bit, showing Akira and Hikaru meeting regularly at a go salon to argue over strategy and affording glimpses of many minor characters in the closing credits. Or am I happy that there are six more volumes? I’m a little worried that the actual ending will be less satisfying than if the story had stopped here, but the appeal of such a large chunk of new material cannot be denied.

With these volumes, Hikaru no Go proves why it is no ordinary sports manga (and this is coming from someone who loves the genre). The games are intense and riveting, sure, but the relationship Hikaru and Sai share is the real story. Their mutual support, jealousy, and encouragement ties in with traditional themes of shounen manga, but there’s such love and warmth there, too, that the appeal is universal. This is truly a series with the potential to be loved by anyone and everyone.

Review copy for volume seventeen provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With: , ,

Pandora Hearts 1 by Jun Mochizuki: B

February 20, 2010 by 6 Comments

From the back cover:
The air of celebration surrounding fifteen-year-old Oz Vessalius’s coming-of-age ceremony quickly turns to horror when he is condemned for a sin about which he knows nothing. Thrown into the Abyss—an eternal prison from which there is no escape—Oz meets a young girl named Alice, who is not what she seems. Now that the relentless cogs of fate have begun to turn, will they lead only to crushing despair for Oz, or will Alice provide him with some shred of hope?

Review:
When Oz Vessalius’ coming-of-age ceremony is interrupted by hooded figures—later, we are told, from a race of people known as Baskervilles—he ends up accidentally wounding his friend/servant, Gil, and is sent to a mysterious dimension known as the Abyss. There, he meets Alice, a “chain” (a creature born in the Abyss) known as the B-Rabbit, who is anxious to use him as a means to escape. Meanwhile, a mysterious trio, including a young man with an incredible resemblance to Gilbert, plots to use Oz for their own purposes.

There’s a lot going on in Pandora Hearts. About half a dozen mysteries are introduced in this volume, with many hidden identities and agendas among them. A lot of things don’t make any sense at this point. Normally, this is the kind of thing that would bother me, but somehow in this series, it works. By the end of the volume, Oz and Alice are back in the real world and have reached a kind of Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE arrangement in which Oz pledges to help Alice recover her missing memories and the two of them have agreed to work for Pandora, an organization that monitors the Abyss.

Oz is a likable character, though I found the attempts at comedy sort of out of place. In the beginning, there’s somewhat of a gender reversal, in which he’s the one being rescued by Alice and ending up on the receiving end of an unsolicited kiss, but instinct tells him she isn’t evil, despite what others say, and by the end of the volume he’s done his share of protecting her, as well. He’ll probably exhibit more characteristics of the shounen hero as the story progresses.

There’s somewhat of a shoujo feel to Mochizuki’s artwork, which features delicate lines, at least one angsty bishounen, and fashions that cause Oz to resemble, especially when chibi-fied, Momiji from Fruits Basket. Some character designs are less interesting than others—Lady Sharon, with whom Oz is instantly smitten, being a prime example—but there are some fun eccentric ones, too.

Because this first volume is so very expository, I have no idea what to expect from the second volume, but as long as things start to clarify a little in the near future, I suspect that the story will end up being quite entertaining indeed.

Pandora Hearts is published in English by Yen Press. Only the first volume is currently available, with the second slated for release in May. The series is up to ten volumes in Japan and is still ongoing.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manga, Shounen Tagged With:

Alice in the Country of Hearts 2 by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino: B

February 18, 2010 by 4 Comments

From the back cover:
As Alice grows accustomed to life in Wonderland, she begins to understand the inner workings of this mysterious world. Everyone desires to get close to her, and Alice’s life lights up with little moments of happiness. But she soon discovers the truth behind all the bliss… and wasted lives. And how will Alice react when the greatest secret is revealed by Julius, the one and only clock repairer?!

Review:
In this second volume, Alice spends more time with the bishounen inhabitants of Wonderland and learns more about them, like the fact that Elliot, who came across so unkindly on their first meeting, is actually friendly and a big fan of carrot dishes (he protests that he cannot be a rabbit, despite his long ears, because rabbits only enjoy plain carrots), and that Ace, who originally seemed more normal than most, is actually downright creepy. Despite the fact that there are all these guys around, romance is definitely not in the air, as Alice learns some disturbing things about how the world works and the reader glimpses even more.

This series continues to be much better than one would expect. I chalk this up entirely to Alice, who is an extremely likable protagonist. She’s sensible without being boring, curious without abandoning all caution, and kindhearted without being cloying. The male residents of Wonderland are still pretty much types—owing to their game origins, one supposes—but they do help provide Alice with valuable clues as to what’s really going on in Wonderland and why she is so special. Ace and Julius, the clock fixer, are the most interesting so far, I think. Even Peter White—the one who forced her to play “the game”—comes off a little more sympathetically, though he’s the instigator for the two gunfights that account for the most tiresome moments in the volume.

I never expected to get hooked on Alice in the Country of Hearts, but I really do want to keep following it. While I’m happy that TOKYOPOP opted to release volumes one and two only a month apart, with volume three scheduled for June, I am concerned about what’s going to happen when we catch up to Japan. There are only four volumes available there so far, so it looks like we’re all going to be in for some protracted waiting at some point down the line.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Fantasy, Manga, Shoujo Tagged With:

Vampire Knight 9 by Matsuri Hino: C+

February 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment

After the revelations in volume eight, the world of Vampire Knight goes—please pardon my indelicacy, but this is really the only way to put it—batshit crazy.

Pureblood vampire Rido Kuran (our villain) completes his resurrection and summons his followers to him. Said followers feel no compunction about snacking on the day class students of Cross Academy, so the noble vampires of the night class must protect them. Kaname challenges the vampire senate, Zero gains thorny super powers along with some self-control, Yuki squares off against Rido, and the Hunters Association arrives to exterminate the night class, but is held off by Headmaster Cross and his hunter pal, Toga.

This synopsis might make it seem as if the volume is action-packed, but “incoherent” is actually closer to the truth. I honestly have no idea why half of this stuff is going on. Perhaps it’s because it’s been three months since I read volume eight, but that just goes to show how little of this series is actually memorable beyond its main characters and its prettiness. Zero’s evolution is genuinely interesting, though, and makes for some cool moments near the end of the volume.

The art of this series is usually its best asset, but Hino’s style is far more suited for depicting pretty, angsty vampires than scenes of battle. Many times, I was left puzzled by what was happening—“‘Shunk?!’ What just went ‘Shunk?!’”—and kept confusing Rido and Toga, since they both have wavy shoulder-length black hair and an unruly forelock.

I am left to conclude that Vampire Knight is like a morsel of dark chocolate: its bittersweet taste lingers on your tongue while you’re consuming it, but its impact doesn’t last much beyond that moment.

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

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

Angel: Long Night’s Journey by Brett Matthews and Joss Whedon: C-

February 15, 2010 by 2 Comments

From the back cover:
An enemy from Angel’s past has come to L.A., and enlisted three powerful supernatural creatures to break Angel’s spirit before killing him. In one catastrophic night, Angel has to figure out who’s after him, and then bring him down, in a climactic battle above the glittering Los Angeles skyline.

Review:
Wow, this is really lousy. It’s written at least partly by Joss, but it’s so lackluster that it’d pass for something written by Keith R. A. DeCandido.

The basic plot is thus: a boobalicious snake lady (Joss seems to like these, since one appears in the Buffy season 8 comics), a fiery stone guy, and a knight with a glowy sword all attack Angel and are eventually bested. A symbol on the knight’s chest (Joss seems to like this idea, too, since it also figures into the season 8 comics) clues him in to the fact that his foe is a Chinese vampire he once met.

Turns out the Chinese vamp is upset because he was supposed to be the champion vamp with a soul but instead Angel has that role. This plot is pretty irksome, because it all of a sudden introduces notions like that when Angel was cursed, he was just a test subject for the real deal, and that perhaps the soul he received isn’t even his. It’s annoying and vague and I’m happy all of these ideas were dropped along with Dark Horse’s publication of Angel comics after this miniseries.

The art is competent enough except that nobody looks like they should. I conducted a test by obscuring all but one panel, which featured Cordelia and Wesley, and asking my Whedon-loving coworker, “Who are these people?” She stared at it for a full minute and could not hazard a guess, even though she’d surmised the answer was probably Whedon-related. Cordelia comes off the worst, looking either trampy or middle-aged, and sometimes both at once. Still, it’s so nice to see her appear in a comic at all that I have revised the grade slightly upward from the D this dreck truly deserves.

Filed Under: Comics, Media Tie-In, Supernatural Tagged With: ,

Kaze Hikaru 9-11 by Taeko Watanabe: A-

February 15, 2010 by 9 Comments

Beware: spoilers ahead.

I have come to the conclusion that Kaze Hikaru is not only worth owning—as opposed to borrowing it from the library, which is what I’ve been doing up until now—but is also pure evil (in the very best way, of course).

Volume nine begins with a reorganization of the Shinsengumi that sees Sei reassigned from active patrolling to a position taking care of the headquarters. This is arranged by Yamanami, who is the second member of the troop to learn her secret and who wants to keep her out of harm’s way. Okita fully approves of this arrangement, though Sei does not. The first half of the volume is fairly lighthearted, featuring a bunch of guys who see Sei and Okita’s separation as an opportunity to vie for Sei’s affections. Saito and Okita intervene, which gives Sei ample opportunity to thoroughly misunderstand the intentions of each.

Problems begin to percolate near the end of volume nine, as Sei learns one of the troops is planning to lodge a complaint against the captain. Inter-troop tensions continue into volumes ten and eleven, when Todo returns with a bevy of new recruits, including a bigshot named Ito Kashitaro who promptly ruffles a bunch of feathers. Ito’s arrival is played for comedy for several chapters—because he’s a lover of beautiful things, he outrageously pines for both Hijitaka and Sei—but abruptly gets more serious when he invites Yamanami into his confidence and puts him in a position where he’s caught between the complicated and conflicting ideologies of Ito (for whom he feels loyalty because they’re from the same sword school) and Captain Kondo.

Throughout these volumes, Sei and Okita’s relationship continues to subtly evolve in minute yet important ways. We also learn more about the supporting cast, most notably the incredibly sympathetic Yamanami. He’s a really sweet guy who tries to nudge Sei and Okita together and gives her some really good advice. Here’s a particularly lovely exchange:

Sei: Okita-sensei’s like the wind… there’s nothing to hold on to. I’m merely a blade of grass who is always swayed by doubt and unable to catch up with the free-spirited wind.

Yamanami: Without grass even the wind would lose sight of itself. So you have to sway more and show the wind that ‘this is your home.’

These words really stick with her and are shown to be true later on when she is restored to patrol duty and Okita muses that he doesn’t feel as free to sacrifice his life with her around.

I should’ve known, therefore, that just when we’re made to love Yamanami very much, something awful would happen. He is still haunted by atrocities he witnessed at the prison, and when further news of bakufu brutality reaches him, he can no longer continue to serve them and deserts the troop. He knows full well what the penalty will be, but accepts it without complaint, refusing too to state his reasons, knowing that it might throw his comrades into chaos. It’s all the more terrible because he didn’t fail the cause—the cause failed him!

I can’t remember the last time a manga made me cry like this. And so, that is why Kaze Hikaru is simultaneously marvelous and evil. It lulls you into a false sense of homey security and then suddenly reminds you that you’re dealing with a lot of passionately idealistic men with a strict (and bloody) code of honor. You can love them as individuals, but be warned—their story will break your heart.

Filed Under: Historical Fiction, Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,

Our Kingdom: Arabian Nights by Naduki Koujima: B-

February 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment

This one-volume spin-off of Our Kingdom stars Raoul, a former supporting character of that series, as he attempts to recover from heartbreak by taking a trip to a swanky Middle Eastern resort. His plans go astray when he is captured by a good-hearted yet foolish prince named Ashif, who plans to use Raoul as a pawn to ensure his sister’s marital happiness.

Raoul is naturally upset at this turn of events and when his temper flares, he takes it out on Ashif in the form of some forcible groping. Unlike some other BL characters who engage in such behavior, however, Raoul wallows in self-loathing because of it. As they spend more time together, Raoul begins to develop feelings for Ashif, who is able to show him good qualities about himself and motivate him to become a better person.

Even without knowledge of Raoul’s time in the main storyline, his desire to move forward from those events is still appealing. So, too, are his uncertainties about Ashif. Being with the prince has helped ease much of Raoul’s bitterness, but their friendship is also a source of anxiety, since Raoul must overcome the compulsion to hang on too tightly to something he fears might slip away.

It’s too bad that the actual plot of the manga cannot support Raoul’s turmoil in any meaningful way, for it is the personification of flimsy and occasionally borders on ridiculous. Secondary characters offer little to the story, and I have absolutely no idea why Raoul’s little sisters are present, unless they are intended to be the comic relief. These flaws ultimately mean that the story isn’t as good as it might have been.

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

Filed Under: Boys' Love, Manga Tagged With: ,

The Middleman 1-3 by Javier Grillo-Marxuach and Les McClaine: B

February 13, 2010 by Leave a Comment

When the TV adaptation of The Middleman was airing on ABC Family in 2008, I watched a few episodes but eventually gave up because the campy plots exceeded my threshold for silliness. I have since wondered whether I ought to have given it another chance—after all, I liked the actors and a good deal of the dialogue—and when I noticed that my local library had in its collection the comics upon which the show was based, I decided to start by checking out the original source material.

The original run of The Middleman comprised eight comic issues (included in the first two collected volumes, which bear the respective subtitles The Trade Paperback Imperative and The Second Volume Inevitability) and the straight-to-graphic-novel release of The Third Volume Inescapability. A fourth book, The Doomsday Armageddon Apocalypse, was produced after the demise of the TV show and is essentially its unaired final episode. While written by series creator Javier Grillo-Marxuach, this work does not feature art by Les McClaine.

The origins of The Middleman, our clean-cut hero who “solves exotic problems,” are murky. His orders are filtered through Ida, a sophisticated robot trapped in the guise of a cranky schoolmarm, and neither of them knows from whom they originate. Just as he was recruited by the previous Middleman, when he encounters aspiring painter Wendy Watson slumming in a temp job and is impressed by her ability to keep cool and think quickly under pressure, he begins training her to be his eventual replacement. The unflappable Wendy is a very quick study and proves invaluable more than once while they’re on the job, though she can’t entirely abandon her artistic ambitions. In the first volume they contend with a super-intelligent ape obsessed with the mafia, in the second they defeat a gang of jewel-thieving Mexican wrestlers, and in the third (which is awesomely full of references to The Rutles) they foil the city-trampling, world-dominating plans of a madman in possession of alien technology.

While the plots are undeniably goofy and teeming with snerk-worthy dialogue, the tone does gradually shift into darker territory. In volume two, Wendy must leave behind her injured ex-boyfriend, witnesses a scene of mass carnage, and is later basically called a horrible person by said ex. (Alas, the promise of these developments is squandered immediately afterwards when she paints a ridiculous self-portrait with a tear rolling down its cheek that elicits more derision than sympathy.) In the third volume, we learn that the Middleman has withheld a crucial piece of information from Wendy: no Middleman has ever retired; instead, every one has been required to make “the ultimate sacrifice.” It’s rather like being the Slayer, actually. By the end of the series, Wendy must decide whether to fully embrace her new career, even if it means completely giving up all of her old dreams.

Unfortunately, because of its brevity, The Middleman reads more like an outline of a story arc than a fully realized and satisfying tale. I’m hopeful that the televised version will have more time to provide some of the fleshing out that the comic could’ve used. Too, now that I know the comic goes dark places, I’m quite eager to see whether the TV series does the same. Perhaps I’ve been inaccurately labelling it as fluff when it could turn out to be something much more interesting. Here’s hoping!

Filed Under: Comics, Sci-Fi Tagged With:

Sexy Voice and Robo by Iou Kuroda: A-

February 12, 2010 by 3 Comments

From the back cover:
Working part-time as a telephone-dating operator, Nico Hayashi has plenty of clients eager to engage her in titillating conversation. But what her customers don’t know is this: the person they’re flirting with is really a fourteen-year-old junior high school girl with a secret agenda.

On the phone she’s known as Sexy Voice. But, really, she’s more than a professional flirt. Secretly, she wants to change the world and maybe become a spy and fortuneteller, too.

Along for the ride is her friend Iichiro Sudo. He’s an underemployed twentysomething hipster with an obsession for collecting toy robots. Together they are Sexy Voice and Robo… two people doing their best to bring some hope into this crazy world.

Review:
Fourteen-year-old Nico Hayashi is an observer of human nature. She loves talking to strangers and has a part-time job working for a tele-club, through which she lures lonely men out for meetings and observes their behavior from a distance as they wait for her to arrive. One day, as she’s doing this, she meets an old man who, noting her expertise at matching character traits to voices, enlists her help in analyzing a recording of a kidnapper. Nico, who harbors dreams of being either a spy or a fortune-teller, goes one step further and tries to find the culprit. Once she does, she pursues him, thinking, “If I lose him, that’s it…. I have no idea where this kid is, but right now I’m the only one in the universe who can save him.”

Nico’s success leads to further assignments from the old man, including checking on the welfare of a runaway, investigating flaws in a company’s new product, and locating a kid who stole a bunch of money from a gambling parlor. She uses one of her tele-club contacts, Iichiro Sudo (whom she nicknames Robo since he collects robotic toys), to do her bidding throughout, and generally has a pretty good time of things until she meets Mr. Forgetful.

Mr. Forgetful seems kind and benevolent, but forgets everything after three days. Nico evidently knows him, though, and suggests that perhaps she’s his daughter. They spend a few days together, shopping and eating unagi, but Mr. Forgetful eventually receives a mysterious assignment. It’s unclear at first just how much Nico knows, but eventually we learn that Mr. Forgetful is an assassin sent to target the old man and that she’s been trying to prevent it. Nico wants to save them both, and convinces Mr. Forgetful not to carry out his assignment, a failure for which he is later killed.

Nico plays with people. She enjoys leading them around and having them under her control, but it’s a devastating blow when she learns that her actions ultimately led to Mr. Forgetful’s death. For a while, she tries to shift the blame onto the old man, but can’t escape the implications of what she’s done. While a career as a spy or a fortune-teller sounded ideal only a short time ago, Nico now reflects that controlling someone’s secrets or fate is not what she wants to do. Instead, she wants to bring hope. This impression is reinforced when she meets an elderly retired spy who did the job because she was the best one for it (just like Nico, thinking “I’m the only one in the universe who can!”) and who has no regrets about the “unhappy endings” where others ended up getting hurt. Nico isn’t sure what she wants to be, but she knows she wants a happy ending.

Unfortunately, we don’t get to see much of what happens after Nico processes this information, as there are only two more chapters to the series. In these, though, she’s far less controlling, allowing herself to be led along by a string of mysterious notes left in love hotels and even attempting to set Robo up with a lady friend. Perhaps that’s her way of following through with the goal to bring hope, even though her plan backfires when said lady friend ends up being mentally disturbed. I’d love to see this series continued someday and see Nico using her observational skills and cleverness in a more selfless way.

I really admire how Kuroda-sensei tells the story, because he doesn’t feed one the conclusions about Nico’s revelation on a spoon; all the clues are there, but one must make one’s own connections. Visual elements also help show Nico’s state of mind, as we often see her observing the city from a lofty perch, looking down on everyone from a distance while ruminating on how it’s easier to talk to strangers. When she’s on assignment, though, we get more of a street view as she’s down amongst the world and its people, trying to accomplish her objective. I began to wonder whether Nico had any friends, but by the end we’ve seen a classmate of hers a couple of times and she also begins treating Robo more as a person than a minion. Perhaps there’s hope for her yet to make the meaningful human connections that the elderly spy suggested she would never have since she’s “too busy fishing to get hooked.”

Ultimately, Sexy Voice and Robo is a multi-layered work that gives readers a lot to consider. I reviewed it as part of the Manga Moveable Feast, and can definitely see why it was chosen, since there are so many aspects one could talk about. Please visit David Welsh’s blog, Manga Curmudgeon, and check out the contributions of the other participants!

Filed Under: Manga, MMF, Seinen Tagged With:

Castle Waiting by Linda Medley: A

February 8, 2010 by 14 Comments

castlewaitingBook description:
A fable for modern times, Castle Waiting is a fairy tale that’s not about rescuing the princess, saving the kingdom, or fighting the ultimate war between Good and Evil—but about being a hero in your own home. The opening story, “The Brambly Hedge,” tells the origin of the castle itself, which is abandoned by its princess in a comic twist on “Sleeping Beauty” when she rides off into the sunset with her Prince Charming. The castle becomes a refuge for misfits, outcasts, and others seeking sanctuary, playing host to a lively and colorful cast of characters that inhabits the subsequent stories, including a talking anthropomorphic horse, a mysteriously pregnant Lady on the run, and a bearded nun.

Blending elements from a variety of sources—fairy tales, folklore, nursery rhymes—Medley tells the story of the everyday lives of fantastic characters with humor, intelligence, and insight into human nature. Castle Waiting can be read on multiple levels and can be enjoyed by readers of all ages.

Review:
I check out a lot of stuff from my local library. Most of the time, even if I like something a good deal, I’m content to return it to them with the knowledge that I can check it out again if the desire for a reread hits me. On rare occasions, though, I encounter a book that I love so very much that I can’t abide the thought of not owning my own copy. Castle Waiting is one such case.

Originally self-published by creator Linda Medley, the series was collected into a very nice hardcover edition by Fantagraphics in 2006. The design is rather old-fashioned, calling to mind the story books of my youth, and something as simple as the inclusion of a bookmark ribbon contributed quite a lot to my overall reading experience. Each time I cracked open the book to my marked place I felt like Bastian from The Neverending Story!

Castle Waiting begins with a prologue called “The Curse of the Brambly Hedge,” which is a variation on “Sleeping Beauty.” Everyone is happy in the land of Putney. They’ve got a kind and wise king and the people and commerce of the town are thriving. The one problem is that the king and queen desperately want a child, so they seek the advice of a group of witches in the forest. An evil witch is angry at not being consulted and places a curse upon the babe, which ultimately results in the princess slumbering for a century, the castle being obscured by brambles, and the town being destroyed. A hundred years later, the princess is awoken by a kiss and promptly takes off with her prince, leaving the castle waiting for royalty to inhabit its walls once again.

In the meantime, the castle becomes known as a safe haven for outcasts and the real story begins when Jain, who is pregnant, flees her abusive husband and travels a long way to make it to the castle. Once there, she meets the eccentric residents who are immediately kind to her and extremely excited about the prospect of having a child around the place. There’s Rackham, the beak-faced steward; Dinah, the cook; Simon, Dinah’s oversized son; Sister Peace, a surprisingly fun-loving nun; Henry, the taciturn blacksmith; three old ladies who were formerly the handmaidens of the princess; and Dr. Fell, a reclusive physician. Missing from the gathering is Chess, a traveling knight, though he does show up later.

Life at the castle is peaceful, with only minor irritations arising in the form of a poltersprite infestation and a lecherous river spirit. Jain settles in and is eager to contribute, eventually taking charge of the castle library. When she gives birth—to a green, snout-nosed boy with a tail—everyone fusses over the baby. Adorably, this includes the poltersprites, who watch over him and keep him warm, and gruff Henry, who makes an elaborate ironwork cradle for the child but does not visit him, since he has not yet gotten over the death of his own son.

Everyday life ensues. Rackham and Chess make a supply run into town. Dinah and Jain decide to dye their hair. Henry finally holds the baby. Simon and Peace go fishing. Each of these anecdotes is far more interesting than one would guess. While no one appears to be hiding their past from any other, not much is said beyond hints until a spate of rainy days leave Jain pining for a story and Sister Peace ready to tell one. The final third of the book is comprised of Peace’s backstory, from her days with a circus to her life in a convent. It does drag on a little bit, but it fleshes her out incredibly well. One gets the feeling that a tale as involved could be told about every single resident, and I’m looking forward to learning more about them all.

Perhaps the best adjective I could employ to describe Castle Waiting would be “homey.” It’s all about the pleasures of home and the relief of being amongst family who accept you, even if they don’t happen to be related to you or even entirely human. As the book description quoted above attests, it can also be read on many levels. Taken on the surface, it’s a perfectly cozy and enjoyable story. If one decides to delve more deeply, themes of tolerance and equality can be found gently at work, though by no means do they take precedence over the characters.

Lest all of this sound a bit too quaintly domestic, let me assure you that the story is also quite funny. I giggled many times and even my husband laughed when I showed him a panel that contains a reference to The Ren & Stimpy Show. Alas, there are several other references that I did not get—the most confusing of which has to do with disappearing people leaving piles of oats behind—but that didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the story any.

With such a wealth of genuinely likable and intriguing characters, each with a story to tell, Castle Waiting seems to have the potential to go on indefinitely. I know I would love to read lots, lots more of it. In fact, even before I’d finished the first book I’d placed an order at the Fantagraphics site for the single issues that will, I hope, eventually be collected into a second hardcover for my collection.

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