Black Butler 2 by Yana Toboso: B-

May 24, 2010 by 2 Comments

This volume begins with Sebastian, butler extraordinaire, whipping together impressive preparations for a charity function with very little notice while simultaneously dealing with disasters caused by the other (incompetent) members of the household staff. From there, Ciel’s investigatory skills are called upon by Queen Victoria and the action relocates to London, where Jack the Ripper is causing quite a stir. Ciel ends up getting captured by a skeevy viscount, Sebastian rescues him, and then the two of them discover the killer’s real identity.

If you’re thinking, “Gee, that sounds just like volume one,” you would be correct! Thankfully, though the overall outline is very similar, the details offer enough variety to forestall boredom. I enjoyed the London setting, for example, as well as learning more about Ciel’s family, Sebastian’s love of cats (pets exist in his world but “leave much to be desired”), and how the contract between them works.

Ultimately, though there are still things about Black Butler that I’m not too keen on, I still find it to be an entertaining read. It took my mind off my troubles for a while, and that’s good enough for me.

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

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen, Supernatural Tagged With:

How to Control a Sidecar by Makoto Tateno: B-

May 24, 2010 by Leave a Comment

In this spin-off of How to Capture a Martini, stoic bartender Kiyohito Kousaka is pursued by a pair of guys looking to recruit him for a three-way relationship. He initially wants nothing to do with them, but when one of them goes missing, he cares enough to want to get to the bottom of the mystery.

There are definitely some good things about How to Control a Sidecar. The relationship between the two men—Fumi and Kanashiro—is not exactly what it seems, and I like that the title story ends differently than I’d been expecting. Even the regrettable inclusion of a nonconsensual scene is tempered somewhat by the fact that the victim collects evidence and sees a doctor, though stops short of filing a police report, and that all parties involved acknowledge the act for what it was.

It’s the second story, “How to Subdue a Stinger,” that I found most disappointing, since it completely negates the unconventional ending of the title story and endows Kousaka with a near-total personality transplant. The impression I get from it is that Tateno’s readers were dissatisfied with the original ending and that she wrote this to appease them. That’s really too bad, because it was much better the first way.

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

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

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen 1 by Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill: B-

May 22, 2010 by Leave a Comment

From the front flap:
London, 1898. The Victorian Era draws to a close and the twentieth century approaches. It is a time of great change and an age of stagnation, a period of chaste order and ignoble chaos. It is an era in need of champions.

Allan Quatermain, Captain Nemo, Hawley Griffin, Dr. Henry Jekyll, Mr. Edward Hyde, and Mina Murray are those champions and together they comprise the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Recruited by the enigmatic Campion Bond, under orders from the mysterious “M,” these six adventurers are pressed into service by their empire in its time of need. Now they must face the nefarious Doctor and his vile plan for world domination. But things are not entirely as they seem; other factors, cryptic and corpuscular, are also at play. A remarkable drama ensues.

Review:
“The British Empire has always encountered difficulty in distinguishing between its heroes and its monsters.”

It’s 1898 and Mina Murray (Dracula), back from her Transylvanian adventure and now divorced from Jonathan Harker, works for a mysterious person named Mr. M, whom she assumes is Mycroft Holmes, brother of the great (and currently presumed dead) detective. Mr. M claims to have the welfare of the British Empire at heart when he assigns Mina to recruit various unsavory fellows.

She has already teamed up with Captain Nemo (20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) and together they venture to Egypt, where they pick up opium-addled Allen Quatermain (from the African adventures penned by H. Rider Haggard); to Paris, where they restrain the murderous Edward Hyde and his mild-mannered creator, Dr. Henry Jekyll; and to a girl’s school in London where Hawley Griffin, the invisible man, has been having his way with the students. Each recruit ultimately joins the cause, though their motivations for doing so vary widely, and when the team is assembled they receive their first assignment: retrieve some stolen Cavorite, a mineral that enables flight, which is now in the hands of a Chinese crime boss.

Their journey takes them into extremely squalid areas of London and into contact with some very unsavory people, but the real story begins when they turn over the recovered Cavorite to their go-between with Mr. M and Griffin decides to see what he can learn about their mysterious leader’s identity. Up until this point, I hadn’t really enjoyed it very much, but the last three chapters are actually pretty cool, with a lot of action and the characters functioning together more as a team, though of course one can never forget that some of them (notably Griffin) are not remotely trustworthy. The conclusion is an exciting one, and I liked it well enough that I intend to continue on with the second volume.

That said, there are some things that bug me about The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The stylized art is rather weird, for one. I’ve not read a lot of Western comics, true, but I’m used to there being some short of shading in a character’s eyes. Here, you just get one shade, which takes some getting used to. Also, I assume that the exceptionally teeny waists on the corseted Victorian ladies are intended to be a sort of commentary on their restrictive situation, but they look strange nonetheless.

This exactly parallels the treatment of the sole female on the team, Mina Murray. Moore often portrays Mina as competent and clever, and unfairly condescended to by men of her acquaintance. Indeed, he seems critical of society’s views towards women in that era, which is well and good. At the same time, though, he puts Mina into unnecessarily gratuitous situations (nearly raped twice), has her denegrate her own “ridiculous female naiveté,” and, in a frightening moment, has her seek solace in the arms of a man. Now, one could argue that Moore is showing that Mina herself is not immune from society’s influence and is only saying and doing things that are expected of her, but that doesn’t explain the attempted rapes.

Ultimately, it took a little while for me to warm up to this series, but I liked the place it was in by the end of the volume and look forward to checking out the next one. As soon as I pay my steadily mounting library fines, that is. Sheesh.

More reviews of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen can be found at Triple Take.

Filed Under: Comics, Historical Fantasy, Triple Take Tagged With:

Banana Fish 3-4 by Akimi Yoshida: A-

May 19, 2010 by 6 Comments

The action ramps up in these two volumes of Banana Fish as Ash and his allies follow the trail of the drug known as “Banana Fish” from New York to Los Angeles and more details about its nature, as well as Ash’s background, come to light.

There’s a lot going on here, including prison power struggles, an incredibly badass assassination attempt in a Chinatown fish market, a cross-country road trip, conflicting loyalties and military conspiracies. This is an intricately plotted story—an epic quest that has become absolutely fascinating and causes actual pangs of remorse when one must tell oneself, “No, you can’t go on to volume five. What about that library book that was due yesterday?”

Ash is a highly compelling lead, and a few of his layers are peeled back in these two volumes, giving readers a little more insight into what makes him tick. For instance, a lot of the time when he comes across as harsh, he’s just sparing others the need to voice unpleasant truths. This comes to light in a scene where he convinces Eiji to return to Japan by informing him he’ll be a hindrance—afterwards we see that it really bothered Ash to have to hurt Eiji in this way, though he pretends otherwise, but that he’s willing to do it in order to protect the one person who has ever helped him without expecting anything in return. Ash was betrayed at a young age by the negligence of his parents, but still has the ability to protect those he cares about, even though he might pretend he’s too tough to feel such tender emotions.

Eiji’s motivations are also explored in these volumes. Though his comfortable life has enabled him to live without a gun in his hand—“You can do something I can’t,” Ash remarks. “We’re even.”—he nonetheless has had his share of problems. Once a promising athlete, an injury shook his confidence and left him feeling adrift. He might not be invested in finding out the truth about Banana Fish, but he is invested in Ash, and staying by his side could be just what he needs to feel like he is accomplishing something in his life. “I want to quit quitting,” he remarks, and even though he is exposed to quite a lot of horrible things through his association with Ash, his convictions do not waver until Ash flat-out tells him he’ll do more harm than good.

I love the bond that’s developing between these two characters—bolstered by a couple of really awesome scenes between them—and also enjoy the dynamic amongst the older members of Ash’s retinue, a pair of journalists (one Japanese, one American) with their own reasons for tagging along and who occasionally offer insights onto the feelings and perspectives of their younger counterparts. It’s a very well-rounded cast, and a few ladies even show up in this volume, though all seem poised to be victims of one kind or another.

The only thing that still bugs me about Banana Fish is the art. A lot of the time it’s quite good and I can actually see what the back cover means when it says, “Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful.” Sometimes, though, the anatomy is rather weird—there’s one high kick from Ash that only a Barbie could achieve—and the depiction of African-Americans continues to be problematic. Seriously, please quit drawing their lips so they look like Mr. Bill, Yoshida-sensei. It makes me sad.

Minor complaints aside, Banana Fish is a masterpiece of plot and characterization, and should really be read by anyone who considers themselves a manga fan.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With:

A Royal Proposition by Marion Lennox and Harumo Sanazaki: C-

May 17, 2010 by 2 Comments

Before he died, the king of a vaguely European country called Castaliae drafted a will to reign in his son’s profligate tendencies. This will calls for the next would-be king to marry a woman of faultless virtue before he can ascend to the throne. Alas, that son is now dead too, and the new heir, Alastair, must also abide by the bizarre terms set forth by his predecessor.

Enter Penny-Rose, the perfectly angelic damsel who agrees to a one-year marriage contract with cynical Alastair and wins him over with her emotional availability and courage, as demonstrated by working as a stonemason to provide for her siblings’ education and darting into traffic to save an injured puppy. (Please believe that I do not normally snicker at injured puppies, but I could not help it this time.)

I try not to expect too much from these Harlequin manga, but this one is particularly lackluster. Both main characters are bland and their uninteresting romance is propelled by some amusingly melodramatic circumstances. I suspect most of the problems can be attributed to the original source material, but there’s nothing about the art or manga adaptation to compel one to overlook such flaws.

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

Filed Under: Josei, Manga, Romance Tagged With:

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You 4 by Karuho Shiina: A-

May 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

When Sawako Kuronuma was ostracised by her class due to her gloomy disposition and resemblance to a character from a horror movie, she never would have guessed that there are so many nuances to interactions with other people. Because of her inexperience in this area, she hasn’t learned to be distrustful, and so accepts as genuine the friendly advances of Kurumi, a girl who wants Kazehaya-kun for herself.

Kurumi does everything within her power to convince Sawako, who is growing increasingly curious about the depth of her feeling for Kazehaya, that what she feels for him isn’t anything special, and that she ought to try chatting up some other guys for the sake of comparison (then arranges for Kazehaya to witness this, of course). Things backfire for Kurumi, though, as Sawako manages to interpret this advice in the best possible light and ends up confirming and accepting that what she feels for Kazehaya is genuine love.

This is a huge step for Sawako, and her happiness at this achievement in self-discovery is contagious. In fact, the depiction of her thought process as she works this out is simply terrific throughout, as is that of Kazehaya as he realizes that, no matter what he may personally feel, Sawako is still not ready to begin dating anyone. The skill with which nonverbal and internal storytelling convey these revelations to the reader elevates Kimi ni Todoke beyond other sweet love stories and into the realm of great manga.

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

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Flower in a Storm 1 by Shigeyoshi Takagi: B

May 16, 2010 by Leave a Comment

After being rejected by her first love because of her superhuman strength, Riko is trying to live as unremarkable a life as possible. She believes that the only way she’s going to fall in love is to be “normal,” but this point of view is challenged by the dramatic arrival (with gun and menacing retinue) of rich boy Ran Tachibana, who barges into her classroom one day and proposes marriage.

Unlike her first love, when Ran caught a glimpse of Riko’s abilities he was smitten and his unstoppable pursuit leads him to transfer to her school. Ran’s got quite a few enemies, so his proximity involves Riko in all sorts of dangerous situations involving assassins and treacherous friends, but his acceptance of her as she is gradually endears her to him despite all the chaos he introduces into her life.

In no way did I expect to enjoy Flower in a Storm as much as I did. In fact, I remember reading the back cover description aloud to someone and the two of us groaning. In reality, though, it’s actually a lot of fun, even though some of the situations the leads find themselves in are fairly ridiculous. Ran might be outrageous, but the fact that he appreciates Ran for her competence and independence goes a long way toward making his presumptive actions more tolerable. Also, this isn’t one of those series where the domineering guy must come to the aid of the helpless heroine; instead, they do their fair share of rescuing each other.

After Ran and Riko’s tale comes to a nice stopping point, there’s a bonus story called “Need for Artificial Respiration.” It’s about a girl, Toko, with a bad reputation at school due to frequently being spotted kissing different guys. After having his first kiss stolen by Toko while napping in a classroom, Kiyoharu becomes interested in figuring out why she does what she does. The answer is rather surprising, but the story is quite good and definitely more interesting than many bonus stories tend to be.

I like Takagi-sensei’s art a lot, especially Ran’s character design. Riko resembles the title character from Alice in the Country of Hearts, but Ran—with his tied-back hair and impressive collection of stylish specs—has a look all his own that I actually find kind of sexy. Also, there’s just something about Takagi’s angular profiles that reminds me at times of Tomoko Yamashita, creator of Dining Bar Akira.

Ultimately, Flower in a Storm was a very pleasant surprise. Probably a story like this would fizzle out over a long serialization, but the fact that it concludes in its second volume (due in August) reassures me that its end will be as unexpectedly entertaining as its beginning.

Flower in a Storm is published in English by VIZ. Volume one is available now and the second and final volume will be out in August.

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

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: ,

Kimi ni Todoke: From Me to You 3 by Karuho Shiina: A

May 16, 2010 by 1 Comment

From the back cover:
Sadako finally becomes friends with her classmates, instead of scaring them off. Even Kurumi, the cutest girl in school, wants to be her friend. But will this new friendship make Sadako realize that her feelings for Kazehaya might be more than just friendly?

Review:
I was bowled over by the surfeit of cute in this volume of Kimi ni Todoke. Let us count the ways!

1. Sawako has begun doing things after school with Yano and Yoshida, and is absolutely thrilled. Her parents are also adorably excited for her.

2. Sawako is beginning to realize that Kazehaya is a boy, and that she likes him in a way that is different from how she likes her other new friends. This results in her being somewhat flustered in his presence, which leads to him being flustered right back. Seriously, when these two are together, they just glow, and the art and pacing really make these moments special.

3. Yano and Yoshida are extremely awesome, and nudge Sawako into doing things like calling Kazehaya on the phone or dropping the -kun when she addresses him. Her reactions are cute, but Kazehaya’s are especially telling. Yano and Yoshida are kind of evil in how much they tease him, but their machinations result in a story that shows these characters’ feelings for each other rather than simply telling us about them.

4. Sawako’s friends have to inform her that she has earned the right to call them by their first names, because she’d never presume to do so otherwise. In fact, there’s a lot of emphasis on honorifics in this volume, making it a great candidate to prove why it’s necessary to retain them in translations.

I continue to love that friendship is so important to Sawako. Though she’s finally beginning to realize her romantic feelings for Kazehaya, her friends play a big part in that, encouraging her to reach out to him a little more and putting the two of them in situations where they can interact. Yano and Yoshida are at least tied with Hanajima and Uotani from Fruits Basket in the category of Best Best Friends.

A rival for Kazehaya’s affections—Kurumi, a girl he knew in junior high—also appears in this volume. I like that she’s not as over-the-top villainous as some rivals have been, but is still somewhat scheming. Happily, Sawako balks at Kurumi’s request to help her get together with Kazehaya; it’s evident that Kurumi thought Sawako was so self-effacing she’d just bend over backwards to accommodate her new friend’s request. It’s clear, too, that Kurumi knows exactly how Kazehaya feels about Sawako, thanks to some more excellent nonverbal storytelling.

In the end, this volume solidly establishes Kimi ni Todoke as one of my current shoujo favorites. I liked the first two volumes a lot, but now that Sawako and Kazehaya are hesitantly moving closer to a relationship, it has escalated to a new level of greatness.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Shoujo Tagged With: , ,

Neko Ramen 1 by Kenji Sonishi: A-

May 15, 2010 by 1 Comment

Book description:
Taisho was a former kitten model who ran away from home and had a hard life on the streets until the day he was saved by a kind ramen shop owner who later served as his mentor. Now Taisho takes pride in his noodles… and is easily angered when customers are dissatisfied! So step aside, Soup Nazi—there’s a new cat in town!

Review:
I readily admit that I haven’t read much 4-koma (like a comic strip, only vertical) manga and what I have read hasn’t thrilled me. I do like cats, though, so on that basis alone I had to at least flip through Neko Ramen, a new 4-koma series from TOKYOPOP. After some cute moments caught my eye, I knew I had to go back and read the whole thing properly. I’m glad I did, because it’s genuinely funny and I would’ve completely missed out otherwise!

Taisho grew up in the shadow of his super cute father, a famous cat model. After an unsuccessful attempt to follow in his footsteps, Taisho left that life behind and sought his way in the world, trying his paw at a variety of occupations (including, awesomely, driving instructor) before being taken in by the proprietor of a ramen shop and taught the trade. Once Taisho has achieved mastery, the owner leaves him in charge, and it’s there we meet him as the tale begins. He’s an ambitious cat, always trying out new menu items and entertaining ideas of expansion, but really only has one regular customer, a salaryman named Tanaka who thinks the food is awful but keeps coming back to make sure Taisho’s doing alright.

I think Neko Ramen is the first 4-koma to actually make me laugh because it relies primarily on the nature of cats for its punchlines, and that’s the sort of universal humor that requires no cultural notes to explain the joke. There are many amusing bits about Taisho’s difficulties with sticky rice, why his restroom isn’t fit for human clientele, and how his part-time employees spend most of their time snoozing on the counter. Taisho also doesn’t seem to realize that he is a cat and that cats don’t generally run ramen shops. The fact that he’s a curiosity never occurs to him.

Nearly every strip takes place in the ramen shop, though there are a few “short comic specials” that fill in elements of Taisho’s backstory. The best of these—“The Secret of Neko Noodles,” which tells the story of how Taisho came up with a special recipe to nurse an injured cat back to health—is not only positively adorable, but also explains just why Taisho’s noodles taste a bit weird. I seriously read this story about three times then made a fellow cat lover at work read it, too. She said this was the first time she’s ever wanted to read any manga I’ve told her about.

I think I smiled the entire time I was reading Neko Ramen. And though this review copy is ultimately destined for the hands of another Manga Recon reviewer, I plan to buy my own copy when it comes out. That’s how much I liked it.

Neko Ramen is published in English by TOKYOPOP, with the first volume due for release on June 1, 2010. The series is still ongoing in Japan, where four volumes are available so far.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Shounen Tagged With:

Kingyo Used Books 1 by Seimu Yoshizaki: B

May 14, 2010 by 5 Comments

Book description:
Every bookstore has a thousand stories to tell. An art student finds inspiration. An archer hits a bull’s-eye. A homemaker rediscovers romance. A teenager discovers his true self in the pages of a manga magazine. All this and more at Kingyo Used Books, a place that helps people find their dreams.

We have the manga you’re looking for.

Review:
No matter what ails you, there’s a manga that’ll make it better just waiting to be discovered at Kingyo Used Books. Each chapter in this episodic first volume adheres to this general premise, whether it features a struggling archer regaining his focus thanks to a gag manga, an art student finding inspiration in the story of a famous painter, or a half-Japanese kid growing up in America finding qualities to emulate in a boy detective. My favorite chapter in this line is about a housewife who rediscovers a stash of her old shoujo manga in her parents’ house, which ultimately leads her to recall why she fell in love with her husband.

After a few chapters, the format does begin to vary somewhat. At first, the staff of the bookstore are mainly present in the background as we spend more time with the customers, but gradually we get to know Natsuki, granddaughter of the owner and acting manager, and Shiba, manga enthusiast and procurement expert, somewhat better. Other recurring characters include a couple of sendori (book scouts) and Natsuki’s grandfather, who has amassed a drool-inducing amount of stock for his store. The last chapter in the volume isn’t about Kingyo at all, but about the sendori helping to save the rare inventory of a manga lending library from damage in a storm.

The low point of the volume is the introductory chapter devoted to the arrival of Natsuki’s cousin, Billy. Essentially, this shy half-Japanese kid living in America is having trouble making friends until he reads the manga Billy Puck, which stars a courageous boy detective and teaches him about bravery and justice, et cetera. This would be fine, except his obsession persists into adulthood, and he arrives in Japan dressing and acting exactly like his favorite character. The other characters react as if he is merely kooky, and maybe somewhat to be admired for his commitment, but all I could think was, “This guy is mentally ill!” Besides, I found it implausible that someone so obsessed as to hand-knit a sweater for Billy Puck’s creator would not also know that said creator died decades ago.

Throughout the volume, many different classic manga are mentioned, and ample footnotes are provided regarding creators, length, and publisher, should one be compelled to track them down. Also, several pages at the end of the book furnish additional detail on the few series that feature more prominently in the narrative. If there ever was a manga to make a person feel like renewing their commitment to learn Japanese, this is it!

In the end, Kingyo Used Books is pleasant and educational, capable of inspiring book lust and a yearning for many titles that will most likely never make it to our shores. Unfortunately, it seldom exceeds the bounds of pleasantry, outside of a few nice moments in the stories of the housewife and the lending library, so there is little here to move or excite the reader. I can see myself continuing to read the series because I care about the manga to which it can introduce me, but not because I particularly care about the characters.

Kingyo Used Books is published in English by VIZ, and is also serialized online at their SigIKKI site. One volume has been released so far, though the still-ongoing series is currently up to ten volumes in Japan.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Manga, Seinen Tagged With: ,
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