Saiyuki 1-3 by Kazuya Minekura: B

June 27, 2010 by 6 Comments

Although Saiyuki‘s sequels and prequel ran/run in magazines aimed at a female audience, the original was serialized in GFantasy, which, as MJ pointed out in her Black Butler review, features many shounen series created by and appealing to women. Therefore, while I associate Saiyuki with intense female fandom, it still technically qualifies for inclusion in the Shounen Sundays experiment.

Saiyuki is based on the famous Chinese tale, Xi-You-Ji, or Journey to the West. Accordingly, the story begins with a Buddist monk, Genjyo Sanzo, receiving orders from a bodhisattva to gather three youkai (supernatural beings) companions and travel with them to India to stop the resurrection of a dangerous youkai lord known as Gyumaoh. Whoever is attempting the revival has combined human science and youkai magic in forbidden ways, resulting in a “Minus Wave” that has turned normally peaceful youkai into monsters and threatens the harmonious cohabitation they have enjoyed with humans. Sanzo and his companions, who are protected from the Minus Wave by virtue of either part-human lineage or power limiters, duly travel west as ordered.

The real point of the story, however, lies not in thwarting Gyumaoh’s return—a plot which proceeds at a pace best described as glacial—but in the characters and their personal journeys. In addition to Genjyo Sanzo, the priest who believes only in himself, there’s Sha Gojyo, a half-youkai womanizer; Cho Hakkai, a generally level-headed manipulator of chi; and Son Goku, the energetic Monkey King. Each character has a painful backstory more detailed than the main plot and as they travel ever so slowly westward, their various encounters with violent youkai or would-be assassins lead to gradually more revelations about their lives before they met.

While some of them get along well from the start—it seems Gojyo and Hakkai have been friends for a long time—Sanzo, the sole human of the group, initially has trouble trusting that his companions will not someday succumb to the effects of the Minus Wave and turn on him. Gradually, trust grows all around, leading to some nice moments of what I like to call “teamy goodness.” The characters are so compelling—though I could do without the constant (and grating) siblingesque arguing between Gojyo and Goku—that one finds oneself reading just for them. I really don’t care at all about Gyumaoh, for example, and the youkai encounters are already getting repetitive, but the promise that the fourth volume will offer more information about Hakkai makes me eager to continue the series.

It’s not just the heroes that are likable, though. I love a story with sympathetic villains, and so far Saiyuki has produced several. The chief antagonist so far is Kougaiji, son of Gyumaoh who is (unwillingly) doing the bidding of his father’s lover on the basis of a promise to free his mother from some kind of… containment. He sends members of his band to target Sanzo and his group, eventually arriving in person with his (mostly) likable inner echelon of followers. One gets the sense that he regrets having to fight Sanzo, but has no choice if he wants to free his mother. Another villain turns out to be a former priestly comrade of Sanzo’s who voluntarily cursed himself so that he could protect other priests from murderous thieves responsible for the death of Sanzo’s master. This brings up some informative and painful memories for Sanzo, as one might expect.

Artistically, Minekura has improved a lot since the early days of Saiyuki. Even by volume three the art is looking better, but initially the contrast between the covers and interiors is pretty major. This especially manifests itself in characters with droopy eyes, like Sanzo and the bodhisattva, who end up looking severely deformed on a number of occasions. I’m also strongly reminded, by some of the costumes, character designs, and the feel of the story as a whole, of Yun Kouga’s Gestalt (not that this is a bad thing). They did run in the same magazine, so perhaps that’s not unusual.

Ultimately, I liked Saiyuki a lot more than I’d expected to. It’s no Wild Adapter, and it’s a little bit pokey and a little bit silly, but it’s still much better than I thought it would be.

Saiyuki is published in English by TOKYOPOP and all nine volumes have been released. TOKYOPOP also publishes a sequel, Saiyuki Reload, and has released nine volumes of that series, as well. No word yet on a release date for the tenth and final volume.

This is my fourth and final Shounen Sundays review. Thanks again to MJ for participating along with me. It’s been fun!

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Happy Cafe 3 by Kou Matsuzuki: B

June 17, 2010 by Leave a Comment

From the back cover:
Romance abounds as Uru’s life becomes entangled with all the men around her. A visit to the Takamura house by Shindo and Ichiro has Uru’s step-dad worried their lack of visible emotions may cause undue anxiety for his lovely daughter. But is that all he has to worry about? Later, a run-in with Uru has Sou Abekawa reevaluating his feelings for her, and things get complicated when Kenshi, the cousin with a crush on Uru, comes for a visit. How will Uru deal with all the mishaps coming her way?

Review:
After enjoying the laid-back comedy offered in the first volume of Happy Cafe, I was pretty disappointed when the second volume featured a rivalry between bakeries that had Uru on her most obnoxious behavior. Thankfully, the series’ third installment marks a return to the tone of the debut, with a variety of stand-alone episodes meant to show the sibling-esque bond between Uru and her two hot-but-strange coworkers.

The back cover would have one think that Uru is in a tizzy because of all these fellows with feelings for her, but honestly, she is completely oblivious. Sometimes a heroine’s cluelessness in such matters really annoys me, but with Uru, it’s more like her mind is simply completely on other things. It’s not that she wants these guys to like her and thinks that they don’t, it’s that she’s just not mentally in a place where romance is even a consideration. So, what we get is less a romantic comedy and more a series of vignettes in which Uru’s personality—and propensity to break out in sunny, heartfelt smiles—endears her to everyone around her.

That’s not to say there are no funny moments, though. My favorite is when step-dad is questioning Shindo and Uru, who live next door to one another. “Anything… unusually inappropriate going on?” he asks. “Such as neighbors getting intimate with other neighbors? Inappropriately?” I suspect some of what makes me giggle there has to do with the English adaptation, but it pleased me all the same.

I wasn’t really sold on Happy Cafe until this volume, but now I think I might have to see it through to the end simply because I like the characters and have found it in my heart to forgive them for brief interludes (volume two) during which they are annoying.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

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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.

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Happy Cafe 2 by Kou Matsuzuki: C+

March 26, 2010 by 2 Comments

From the back cover:
When two mysterious young men walk into the café to declare war, Uru’s passion gets the best of everyone, and they accept the challenge—with one condition: the loser will have to quit the industry for good. However, just before the contest, Shindo sprains his wrist! And when Uru’s mother shows up at Bonheur, will she convince Uru to go back home? Café Bonheur will have to survive through some turbulent times if it’s to stay happy—and in business!

Review:
The go-nowhere nature of the story in Happy Cafe worked okay for me in volume one, but lame plots combined with rehashes of the same character moments over and over ensured that I liked volume two significantly less.

On the back cover of the first volume, Uru is described as being a klutz, and while my original reaction to that was to groan, the interior contents proved much better than I was expecting. I had the same response to the plot synopsis for volume two—a rival bakery challenges Café Bonheur to a contest but oh noes, Shindo sprains his wrist!—but no pleasant surprise awaited me: it’s every bit as dumb as it seems. The representatives of the other bakery are fairly obnoxious, but what’s worse is that their behavior inspires even more annoying antics from Uru, who spends much of the volume spazzing out and/or losing her temper.

My favorite character continues to be Shindo, the grumpy but kind baker at Café Bonheur, but even so, I got tired of how frequently we were reminded of his characteristics. This volume features the discovery that, while seemingly a big grouch, Shindo makes a low-sugar Mont Blanc especially for a diabetic customer, that he will improvise a dessert for a little girl with a strawberry craving, that he’ll whip up a green tea pound cake for customers who aren’t big on sweets, and that he will say nice things about Uru to her mother when she comes to visit. We get it already!

While I continue to enjoy some elements of Happy Cafe—the food looks tasty and I genuinely did snicker a couple of times—I found this volume to be a big disappointment. I hope it’s just a fluke, but we shall see.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

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Phantom Dream 5 by Natsuki Takaya: B

March 8, 2010 by 3 Comments

In this, the final volume of Phantom Dream, the millennium-long battle between the Gekka and Otoya families comes to a close. Before this can happen, we learn all about the villain’s painful background and what really happened 1000 years ago. Unfortunately, the authorial sidebars spoil one major plot twist (it would’ve been nice if there had been a spoiler warning), but luckily fail to ruin the best revelation of all, one which was actually set up three volumes ago. Overall, the conclusion is a satisfying one and I surprised myself by sniffling a few times.

That said, a few things did bother me. As a child, Hira (the villain) was forced to endure many years of imprisonment because of his powers and demonic appearance (that’s him on the cover). At various points, the length of his incarceration is stated as ten years, fifteen years, and nearly ten years. I’m not sure whether this is the fault of the original material or the translation, but it’s a distracting inconsistency. Also, the motivations of an antagonist are unclear; I found it hard to reconcile their past actions with their present ones.

Phantom Dream certainly improved as it progressed; while it was initially hard to see how the same hand could have produced this and the lovely Fruits Basket, by the end the connection is clear. While I didn’t like Takaya’s other early series, Tsubasa: Those with Wings, enough to hang onto it after I’d finished, this one is a keeper.

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

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Phantom Dream 4 by Natsuki Takaya: B-

March 7, 2010 by 2 Comments

From the back cover:
Eiji’s life hangs in the balance as factions once again shift and realign. Asahi struggles with her new powers and guilt over what happened in the past, while Tamaki strives to control the continuing outbreak of chaos in the present. And a mysterious new figure emerges to join the battle, but is he an ally or an enemy?!

Fruits Basket creator Natsuki Takaya delivers a story of love, loss and the redemptive power of forgiveness in this heartbreaking story of star-crossed lovers bound by a responsibility that may destroy them.

Review:
Say what you will about shounen manga, the fact remains that they know how to stage a battle. Even conflicts with minor foes tend to last a couple of chapters, allowing one to fully appreciate the scope of the event. Contrast this with Natsuki Takaya’s treatment of the showdown between our hero, Tamaki Otoya, and King Hira, the villain with a grudge against humanity for murdering his true love a thousand years ago. Here’s how the fight goes down:

1. Someone holds a glowing finger aloft.
2. King Hira falls down.
3. The end.

Despite the fact that this is entirely underwhelming, the series still could and should have ended here, as we get some nice scenes of Hira-induced chaos and decent resolution regarding Asahi’s motives for defecting to the other side. While not technically dead, Hira is left with only two attendants, one of whom is more devoted to her fellow servant than to the king himself.

Unfortunately, the story will continue for one more volume. It’ll probably be padded out with more of Takaya’s attempts to get us to care about the one-sided loves of the supporting characters, but events just move too swiftly in this series for any of these people to make much of an impression.

In the end, Phantom Dream is a decent story with occasionally compelling moments, but is overall more notable for what it could have been than for what it really is.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

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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.

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Alice in the Country of Hearts 1 by QuinRose and Soumei Hoshino: B-

February 4, 2010 by 8 Comments

alicecountryhearts1From the back cover:
Wonderland is officially at war! And Alice is trapped in the middle of it all. Will she make it out alive? A little arrogant, stubborn, and determined to get back home, Alice isn’t fazed by these challenges… until she discovers that every man is gun crazy and weirdly in love with her. What’s going on in Wonderland?!

Review:
Based on a “female-oriented romance adventure game” developed in Japan by QuinRose, Alice in the Country of Hearts is a reimagining of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and features a girl named Alice (shokku!) who is forcibly whisked away down a hole by a white rabbit. He doesn’t stay a bunny for long, though, as he quickly transforms into a bishounen, declares that he loves Alice, introduces himself as Peter White, and forces her to drink a vial of medicine that commits her to playing “the game.” Justifiably, Alice thinks he’s a huge creep and runs off.

In quick succession, Alice meets a bevy of handsome fellows, the most important of which are Blood Dupre (a.k.a. the hatter), a mafia boss who looks just like her ex-boyfriend; somber Julius Monrey, a clock maker who offers some heavily edited explanations of what’s going on; and Nightmare, a dream demon who visits Alice in her sleep and provides the most useful information. All of the guys are inclined to love Alice and, indeed, seem to be prohibited from feeling love for anybody else. The world is divided into four areas and, aside from Julius’ neutral Clock Tower Plaza, everyone else is at war with each other and fond of engaging in shootouts without regard for public safety.

Alice is convinced that the whole world is a dream, but Nightmare tells her it’s not a world she created, but is instead a world she wished for. She’s quite dismayed to find she apparently wished for a world full of fairy tale castles and frilly clothes, but subtle references to her past suggest her ex-boyfriend fell for her more ladylike sister and that she is feeling lonely and unloved. Amorous declarations utterly fail to move her—she’s much more interested in the mysterious goings-on involving disappearing corpses and shadowy beings—but she can’t help being drawn to Blood, even though she knows he’s dangerous.

Because of Alice’s cleverness and strong personality—I love many of her lines, like “I didn’t realize I was so lame” and “I’m sick of your condescending crap! This place is freaking me out!”—Alice in the Country of Hearts is a lot better than it really has any right to be. The focus is much more on the mysteries of the world than romance, and a nicely ominous atmosphere is created, with several of the guys—and not necessarily the ones you’d suspect—concealing secrets from Alice.

On the downside, the narrative framework is clearly transplanted from a videogame. If Alice wants to return home, she must refill the medicine vial. And to refill the medicine vial, she must interact with the world’s inhabitants. This results in Alice walking back and forth between the four main areas in the world, encountering different hotties, witnessing bizarre happenings, and having to walk elsewhere to discuss what she just saw with someone. It feels exactly like playing an adventure game. Ask Julius about the creepy shadows? Yes/No

In the end, Alice exceeded my expectations but didn’t exactly knock my socks off. That said, I’m genuinely interested in reading the next volume, and I wasn’t expecting that outcome at all.

Alice in the Country of Hearts is published in English by TOKYOPOP. The series is ongoing in Japan, where four collected volumes have been released.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

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Deadman Wonderland 1 by Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou: B+

January 31, 2010 by 3 Comments

deadmanwonderland1From the back cover:
The Great Tokyo Earthquake. Ten years ago, it destroyed lives as it tore buildings asunder. Among those who lived through the disaster was Ganta Igarashi, now a middle school student finally getting a footing in his own life… that is, until the day the “Red Man” appears at his school and turns his world upside down again. Ganta’s entire class is brutally murdered, and although innocent of the crime, Ganta is sentenced to death and sent to the bizarre prison known as “Deadman Wonderland.” There, a brutal game of survival begins, where Ganta must discover the truth behind his classmates’ murder.

Can Ganta break out of Deadman Wonderland… or will it break him first?

Review:
The year is 2023. Ten years ago, the Great Tokyo Earthquake struck, leaving 70% of that city submerged by water. Ganta Igarashi used to live in Tokyo, but doesn’t remember anything prior to the evacuation. Now he attends middle school in Nagano, loves soccer, and has a couple good friends among his classmates. All of that changes on the day when “the red man”—a wonderfully creepy cyborg-looking fellow—arrives and murders all of Ganta’s classmates. In a rush to judgment, the authorities blame Ganta for the carnage and sentence him to death, at which point he’s shuffled off to Deadman Wonderland, the single privately owned prison in Japan, which doubles as a tourist attraction.

There, Ganta must learn to survive in the irrational environment or die. He’s fitted with a collar that is continually injecting him with poison—his death sentence—and the only way to delay it is to take a candy antidote every three days. To buy the candy, one must earn “cast points,” which are awarded for winning the various challenges put on for the benefit of the visiting public. When Ganta loses his first dose of the candy, he enters a deadly race with the hopes of using the prize money to procure another. Meanwhile, he meets a strange girl named Shiro who claims they knew each other before, gains some new super powers, and befriends his gentle-seeming cell mate who is hiding his true intentions.

There’s an awful lot going on in Deadman Wonderland, a fact made clear from the very start with a series of color pages depicting the moments right before the earthquake, but it all boils down to the fact that Ganta is likely not the normal kid he always thought he was. Sometimes I grow frustrated with stories that advance this many mysteries simultaneously, but it’s handled very well here, and the sense of a sure, guiding hand is palpable. I also really, really like “the red man,” who is not the only villain of the piece but merely the most visible. His character design is magnificent and menacing and you just know some crazy stuff is going to go down when he appears.

Ganta himself is also likable, as he rallies from his confusion and depression to fight for his life. I feel a little like one of the Deadman Wonderland patrons for enjoying watching him cope with some of the awful situations he faces, but he pulls through heroically enough that I can avoid feeling too bad.

This first volume of Deadman Wonderland does an excellent job introducing the reader to Ganta’s world and instilling a desire to read more about how he adjusts to his extreme circumstances. I also look forward to him learning more about some of the things at which the color pages hinted, like the truth of his early childhood and why, exactly, he’s been drawing a certain symbol on his possessions for years.

Deadman Wonderland is published in English by TOKYOPOP. The series is ongoing in Japan; seven collected volumes are currently available there.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Filed Under: Horror, Manga, Sci-Fi, Shounen, Suspense Tagged With:

Karakuri Odette 2 by Julietta Suzuki: B+

January 25, 2010 by Leave a Comment

karakuriodette2In this gentle and episodic comedy, teenage android Odette has just entered her second year of high school and is joined by fellow android Chris, a former attack bot now reprogrammed by Odette’s creator, Hiroaki. Although Odette has learned much from being among humans, some concepts still elude her, like why a girl’s heart would beat faster near a particular boy or why some combinations of food taste better than others. Chris also receives some development, as he’s forced to consider personal preferences for the first time.

While each individual chapter is amusing, the real charm of Karakuri Odette is Odette’s continuing quest to understand humanity and her calm sorrow when she fails to do so. When she emulates something she saw on TV by putting an egg on Hiroaki’s ramen, for example, she experiences happiness that something she made pleased him. Further culinary experiments don’t fare so well, though, leaving Odette unable to recapture that feeling until she seeks out special tutelage from a friend. The concept of romantic love is also baffling, causing Odette to feel left out when so many of her friends have someone they like.

I continue to appreciate the approach this series takes with its subject matter; it’s definitely funny, but not in a frenzied way, and is frequently touching.

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

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