R.I.P. (Requiem in Phonybrian)

by Mitsukazu Mihara
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: A bored angel adopts a tainted soul as a pet, giving him a chance to redeem himself and other suicides.

Mihara is also the creator of the Doll series, (six volumes, all available now) which I enjoyed and recommend and would give four stars. Both Doll and RIP are studies in Gothic Lolita costuming, but they are also well written and thoughtful for those who are less interested in frills and platform shoes.

This is a one-shot story, so I will stick to the slugline and not give away too much of the plot. I will note, though, that despite being built on Christian ideas about angels and death, it does not take any painfully distracting liberties with them. (unlike, say, Angel Sanctuary - I still wince every time I think of Metatron as a whiny little boy in plaid.) There are some novel twists to what angels can and can't do, but I found them interesting.

RIP is an enjoyable read, with a good mix of character, worldbuilding and dialog, and I look forward to reading more of Mihara's work.



- Miranda

Jim Henson's Return to Labyrinth, v. 1

by Jake T. Forbes
Published by Tokyopop



Slugline: Toby's charmed life leads him back to the Labyrinth, where we meet new characters and familiar faces.

While reading this, I tried very hard to set aside my sentimental attachment to the original movie so as not to bring the Star Wars effect to bear. And I reminded myself that Jareth is not actually developed too much in Labyrinth, so some character flexibility must be allowed.

Even so, the story is about as elegant as the robot guard at the gates of the goblin city. Maybe the writer is inexperienced. Maybe the movie is a hard act to follow (well, David Bowie certainly is.) I'm willing to forgive the slashiness dripping off this Jareth and the illogic of things like inviting Ludo to a ball. The characters are simply predictable, the dialogue's clunky and, worse yet, the art isn't very interesting.

I didn't expect Terry Jones and Brian Froud, but... I'm disappointed.

Despite it all, I want to forgive this volume and hope that v.2 is better. I'm not saying this is a travesty like Star Wars Episode 1 -- it's not. But it's no Wrath of Khan. Maybe more like the second Matrix movie: has its good points, but lacks the soul of the original.

All will depend on whether the writer can give Toby some quirks of his own, lay off the cameos and generate some real tension in the story, whether plot-driven or character-driven I'm not fussy.



- Miranda

Apologies

Life has taken a turn for the crazier and necessitated a complete change of my daily schedule. Thus, the erratic posting. Hopefully things will settle down after Labor Day.

- Miranda

Suzuka, v. 1

By Kouji Seo
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: What a surprise that another high school guy works in female-only bath. Is there a law or something about that? Caution: Mature Content

Del Rey seems to be putting out a lot of titles that are heavy in fan service. Not sure if that is a deliberate choice on their part or a coincidence due to their contacts in Japan, but they seem to be one of the few companies that are unworried about having their titles shrinkwrapped in the stores. Pastel, a series that I am enjoying despite my better instincts, is from Del Rey, and they continue this trend in Suzuka.

Of the two, I am enjoying Suzuka more. Let's get the setup out of the way; country boy goes to Tokyo to live with his aunt while going to high school, an aunt who runs a female-only apartment building with a spa/bath attached. So he is the only guy in a building full of single women. There's a girl the same age as him in the building, so it is almost a given that they will fall for each other. But they are actually attempting to forge a relationship, rather than just having them both like each other and not revealing it because of a series of unbelievable coincidences. Both characters are right now in that stage of quasi-friendship, with a bit of hormones thrown in, but that is something that is understandable and believable.

So I like it. Sure, it is set in a hothouse, and there is some partial nudity in it, but not all nudity means X-rated (so far), and not all stories in manga set in bathhouses have to stretch reality. Maybe just credulity.



- Ferdinand

Laya, the Witch of Red Pooh, v. 1

by Yo Yo
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Dishonorable Mention

Laya makes potions and lives with her friend Niky, a crow in human form called Snowy and a cat named Puss, who smokes. And wears boots.

Oh, and they have four-page, non-linear "adventures" in which everyone can show off their cuteness and attempts at witty dialogue.

If you need a massive dose of cuteness, this book is for you. Here, take it. Please.

- Miranda, the Grinch

Kamen Tantei, v. 1

by Matsuri Akino
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Two high school students want to be mystery writers and try to solve mysterious deaths. Yup, just like Murder, She Wrote.

Matsuri Akino also wrote Pet Shop of Horrors, and like that, Kamen Tantei seems to be trying a bit too hard. Clues are tossed around, one or two reasonable questions are asked, the "mysterious" masked detective shows up to say something less than useful, and then the solution spontaneously appears. Only once in the four stories did Haruka get to point a finger at someone, and that time it was the most obvious answer.

I'm not a fan of murder mysteries, and stories like these are part of why. The characters have no stake in the story, no reason to solve the mystery but their own moral indignation or, maybe, bad weather trapping them in the house. The stories are more for showing off the writer's ability to manipulate facts than tell a story, and sadly Akino-san's stories were neither complicated nor original. I doubt a true fan of mysteries would find them interesting at all.

And aside from the lack of tension in the plot, the dialog and characters are flat and the worldbuilding effort amounts to "maybe ghosts are real" with way too many exclamation points.

Pick up Pet Shop of Horrors instead.



- Miranda

Eternal Sabbath, v. 2

by Fuyumi Soryu
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: You have to get up pretty early in the morning to get the drop on a psychic psychopath.

Whereas Shuro was decanted and raised fairly normally, Isaac was kept in the artificial womb and slated for dissection. Being psychic, he found out about everything and doesn't have much of an opinion of people as a result.

The really dark side of psychic powers turns up every so often in thrillers -- I haven't seen much of it in manga since Akira -- but it's difficult to keep things from looking too hopeless in the face of an enemy that knows you're coming and can control almost anybody. In Eternal Sabbath, Shuro's equal psychic power and Mine's and Sakaki's immunity are their only aces. However, at this point in the series they aren't getting up early enough to get the drop on Isaac.

Volume 2 fills in more background and sets a dark stage of death and betrayal for the action to come. It will be interesting to see how the characters respond to their first run-in with the enemy, whether they take a conventional dark-thriller route or do something unexpected. I'm hoping for unexpected, of course.



- Miranda

Vampire Doll, v. 1

Created by Kari Erika
Published in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: Vampire lords need to be cute!

Vampire Doll is pretty, I will give it that. And the fact that I have started out the review with that should give you an idea of what I think about this title. Not that it is bad; it's just an assortment of elements that I have seen and read before.

There is a cute doll-girl that really has a vampire lord imprisoned within, whose powers are limited to cute ones simply because she/he is a cute girl. For once, I would like a cute girl with non-cute powers, like having blood erupt from the eyeballs or something. There is a kind-hearted sister that is so kind-hearted that she is virtual cipher. But I guess it is all part and parcel of shoujo brand EMP (Extruded Manga Product.)

Maybe I sound a little harsh in my assessment here. I do like the character designs and the costumes. It's just hard muster any enthusiasm for the title. It's not bad, it is done competently, it just has nothing to get me excited or interested in it beyond the most superficial details.



- Ferdinand

The Voices of a Distant Star

Created by Makoto Shinkai, adapted by Mizu Sahara
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Relativistic space travel can break your heart.

There are some questionable practices in this story -- particularly the random selection of spacecraft crew from the general population -- but it's all to set up the separation that drives the drama. Mikako is tapped to be a mecha pilot (what else is a girl going to do on a spaceship?) and Noboru has to stay home in the aimless everyday of growing up.

The story illustrates very well the slow death that long distances can bring to a relationship, but in this case it's not life getting in the way but increasingly large lag times in communication. By the end of the book, Noboru is 25 and Mikako is still 16 because of the light-speed travelling she's done.

The science does get fudged here and there, but on the whole it's surprisingly hard science fiction for a romance.

This is a standalone story, and as such it works very well for me -- another volume of this level of anguish would burn me out fast. It leaves the future, and the consequences of Noboru's choice at the end, up in the air, which is good. You don't have to ride every emotional point to death in a story, but unfortunately that often happens in manga.



- Miranda

Fullmetal Alchemist, v. 2

Story and art by Hiromu Arakawa
Published in the U.S. by Viz Media



Slugline: Edward and Al begin a journey to heal themselves in more than the obvious way and find the philosopher's stone .

Fullmetal Alchemist is a title that needs little introduction thanks to its high profile. I have already reviewed the first volume over at the CBG website, with the link here. I've continued with the second volume to see how it followed up on the story presented in the first.

I liked the flow of this volume better, for while the first volume of FMA had a very episodic feel, with strong beginnings and ends of chapters, here the opponents and episodes flow together almost seamlessly. If the title pages were removed, it would be difficult to separate it back into chapters.

We see part of Edward's guilt over his brother's condition, the depth of it being rather surprising. He's willing to die for his brother in a manner very different from most heroes. Also, we fill out the supporting characters and the idea that there will be consequences to actions, for when Edward loses an arm, it is not easily or immediately replaced. The story arc continues and is strengthened, but not much light is shed on the story's opponents or its final direction.

No sophomore slump here, with the story only continuing to grow.



- Ferdinand

RavenSkull, v. 1

by Christopher Vogler & Elmer Damaso
Published by Seven Seas



Slugline: Ivanhoe's villan, Sir Brian, resurrected and re-cast as a cursed knight in love with the equally cursed Rebecca.

I've never read Ivanhoe (though I recommend Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court) and now that I've read a brief overvieww of the plot, I'm glad to feel less obliged to. Sir Brian was killed by Ivanhoe, in the book, and now he's resurrected by Rebecca and brings back hell's curse for both of them. The all-star cast also includes Richard the Lionheart, King John, and Robin Hood with Merry Men in tow.

The characters and plot are fairly standard for this kind of story, and nobody does anything really surprising aside from how Rebecca brings Sir Brian back from the dead -- that was a nice sequence. The action and artwork are solidly good to balance out the rather ordinary dialog and characters. And insulting well-known characters like Ivanhoe is always fun.

(For more interpretations of stock characters, check out Grendel by John Gardner and The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell)

There's potential for plot twists further down the road, since the cure for their curse isn't certain and its location is unknown, so we'll see where the writer leads us.



- Miranda

Assembly

By Sherard Jackson
Published by Antarctic Press



Slugline: Gritty mecha story set in a war-torn future, where a teenage girl tries to do the right thing.

A brief review, because this is a short story complete unto itself. On the one hand, it's a hard-hitting war story with mecha, pilots, and plenty of explosions. On the other hand, it illustrates how quickly the past can be forgotten in the face of immediate problems.

That's two downers with no up... well, it's on the dark side, yes, and it left me thinking about Starship Troopers (the book, not the movie) and how people try to do the right thing even when their choices are limited.

This seems to be a one-shot story, but it is well crafted and paced and definitely recommended. I'd like to see more of this world and Sherard Jackson's work, if anyone's listening...



- Miranda

Reminder

Tomorrow, Otakon begins so there will be no review posted. Tonight, we went to pick up our badges early and while I can understand putting on a pair of kitty ears to pick up your pre-reg (that's all that was going on, just picking up pre-reg badges), those of you who were already in full costume? In this heat? You're making me feel old. Thanks!

See you Monday.

- Miranda

Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh, v. 1

Story by Kouhei Kadono, Art by Kouji Ogata
Published in the U.S. by Seven Seas



Slugline: Boogiepop "manifests" from within an average schoolgirl to defeat a demonic presence feeding off the student population.

This manga is based on the original Boogiepop novel, as opposed to the many other forms that popped up in the course of Boogiepop's success. I find this one easier to follow than the Boogiepop Phantom anime, as it seems to cover the timeframe of the story completely before moving on to the next character viewpoint of the timeframe. It also helps that the first viewpoint allows for some explanations about Boogiepop himself, whereas in the anime he just came and went and it took much longer to get a grip on what was happening.

Volume 1 starts with missing girls and rumors about the local bad girl and a new drug on the scene. Then Keiji finds out his girlfriend is being "possessed" by a protective spirit and things get odder from there. Being far removed from the action, Keiji's viewpoint of the timeline sets out some structure and landmark events for later reference. When Keiji's side of the story is finished, we move on to Kazuko's view of the events.

Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh gets points for nice brush-and-ink artwork, general weirdness, and social/psychological commentary. Nudity, drugs and sexual situations mean it's probably going to be shrinkwrapped, too. The anime, if you're interested, was quite dark and gloomy and I recall liking the soundtrack quite a bit.



- Miranda

Polly and the Pirates, v. 1

by Ted Naifeh
Published by Oni Press



Slugline: Polly, the long lost daughter of the Pirate Queen, is far too prim and proper for the treacherous world of pirates -- or is she?

This one jumps high on my list of books I would hand to any kid, any where, any time, and tell them to read. It lands, in fact, right next to the Courtney Crumrin series, also by Ted Naifeh.

Both Polly and Courtney have excellent adventures, NOT oversimplified, NOT oversweetened, just the right mix of cleverness and honor and humor for all-ages readers.

Polly is whisked from her boarding school into the world of pirates and treasure maps and at first she wants nothing to do with it. She even betrays her mother's former crew before she comes around. But she does show her true colors and outfox the foxes, find the treasure and mend her mistakes.

Ted Naifeh is a San Francisco resident, so he works nice historical bits like the Emperor of the United States into the story (though it's not set in San Fran.) And the art is lovely and whimsical, but I could live without the written brogues a few characters speak in. It's a minor quibble, though, in an otherwise excellent read.



- Miranda

Pastel, v. 3

Created by Toshihiko Kobayashi
Released in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: For a traditional fan-service-filled relationship comedy, they manage to keep things surprising.

Every time this title is about to move into standard territory, it flirts with it, and then moves away. Quite frankly, while I can tell how any particular scene is going to go once we are in it, I can't really tell which scene will be next. Which, for this type of manga, is actually kind of interesting. But while I am entertained on the macro level, the individual scenes are less interesting simply because I have seen it all before, just not in this order. I usually find fan service amusing in small doses, but these fan service titles turn me off, and I would be rating them somewhere in the one or two star territory. So this is actually pretty good for this kind of title, for me at least.

The love triangle that was set up last volume? Broken before it had time to form once the old friend realized the main characters' attraction to each other. The standard cool guy trying to move in on the girl? The girl lets him take her to a movie, then goes off by herself back to her guy. Just when you think the male lead is spineless, he goes on a maniac trip to make sure the girl is all right, bullying his friends to go with him. It would be interesting to see if he could form a spine when talking to the girl, but then this would be a very short series.



- Ferdinand

Q-ko-chan, v. 1

by Ueda Hajime
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: If the Powerpuff Girls were alien robots... looking for pilots... fighting alien octopi...

This series is from the creator of FLCL, so right off the bat you know that things like "sanity" and "explanations" are not real high on the priority list. However, v.1 does make more sense than any given episode of FLCL and there are interesting moments and situations... they just aren't the main focus of the story right now.

The main focus of the story is what failed to grab me. Our hero, Kirio, specializes in blasé, and it's contagious; I find myself very blasé about him. Thus, I don't much care why Q-ko-chan focuses on him or why more robots drop out of the sky for his friends to pilot. Or whether they're aliens or somebody's toys and what exactly Kirio's mom's role is. I can barely bring myself to write a whole review for this, I'm so blasé.

Yes, the robots are cute. Heck, the alien flying octopi are cute. But Q-ko-chan really does just remind me of Powerpuff Girls and makes me want to see the movie again. (Buttercup rules!) Maybe that will dispel the blasé.

So give the book a try... or don't... or just rent FLCL... or Powerpuff Girls...



- Miranda

Aoi House, v. 1

Written by Adam Arnold with art by Shiei
Published by Seven Seas



Harem titles. Some people like them, sane people don't. Urgh, sorry, my prejudices are showing, but I just find them, well, maybe on occasion amusing, but it just strains credulity to that so many women would find one guy, especially the dopey guys that they seem to find to be the male leads of harem comedies, so irresistible. I wish that being shy and studious was all that was necessary to draw to women to me. Then again, despite being surrounded by beautiful women, the insurance premiums must be murderously high due to the constant beatings they endure.

Thanks to Seven Seas we have the logical response to harem comedies, with two college guys surrounded by yaoi-obsessed fangirls. Ah, sweet justice. Thanks to a minor sign failure that turned Yaoi House into the more innocent sounding Aoi House, these two anime fans, Alex and Sandy, and their perverted hamster find themselves in Aoi House, filled with scantily clad women whose only interest is seeing how long the guys can keep their hands off each other.

Aoi House is a fast-paced fun little story that knows better than to take itself too seriously. And knows it should make the jokes that never seem to be made in the more traditional harem comedies. Strong recommendation and a reminder that Aoi House is the Seven Seas webmanga, so you can preview it at their website, www.gomanga.com.



- Ferdinand.

Airgear, v. 1

by Oh!great
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey



Slugline: Gangbanger Itsuki starts to discover the magic of Air Treck and his four female roomies as a way to beat the big, bad gang in town.

There are many sound, well-known laws of physics surrownding flight and human beings. This book ignores all of them. It's easier to think of the Air Treck rollerblades (yes, rollerblades) as magic flying talismans because no amount of mumbo jumbo is going to convince me that rollerblades can give you that kind of altitude without blowing out your knees and/or leaving you with serious road rash. I don't care if you weigh 50 pounds and are made of rubber, as Japanese teens seen to be.

That said, these kids live in a fantasy world of no grownups, no responsibilities and no reality checks. Itsuki's motivations are no deeper than a puddle of testosterone, with the occasional heroic moment, and his cronies are all too eager to adore him. The four girls, like most bestowers of power, aren't inclined to tell him much about the magic rollerblades in an attempt to make them more mysterious. And the bad guys all come out of a cookie cutter, your usual gang of terrorizing sexual molesters -- which is not why Itsuki wants to beat them, by the way. He just wants revenge for his own ass-kicking.

So it's hard to take this story seriously or sympathize with anybody. There's a grand total of three interesting moments that keep this from being a Dishonorable Mention blurb.



- Miranda

Our other manga reviews

Just a reminder, I also do manga reviews for the Comic Buyer's Guide, and just posted one on Fullmetal Alchemist at the Reviews and Retroviews forum over the Comic Buyers Guide website. This is in addition to my monthly column in the newstand edition of the Comic Buyers Guide, which this month is about how manga handles traditional European style fantasy. -Ferdinand

Her Majesty's Dog, vol. 1

Story and Art by Mick Takeuchi
Published in the U.S. by Go! Comi



Her Majesty's Dog, despite the rather provocative name, is not quite the fetish-laden story that the title would make it seem. Well, no more than most other manga titles. Still, there is little fear that it will be found shrink-wrapped or up on the top rack where you need a step stool to reach it.

Her Majesty's Dog is a cross between a horror and a shoujo title. While being set in a high school, and featuring a couple who are involved, it is more than the typical high school relationship. While Amane is distant from the rest of her classmates and often bullied, she has a good reason to be a little off. She grew up in an isolated village with the power to be a powerful priestess. Still, she wanted to experience the outside world a little, and thus went to high school. Her village, concerned about the risks, insisted on sending her guardian with her. Hyoue is a typical pretty boy who is always sneaking kisses from Amane, but he is also a spirit creature that needs the energy transferred by touch to him by her to function. The fact that he has managed to convince Amane that the energy needs to be transferred by a kiss is only a bonus from his viewpoint.

The early stories of this collection are more along the lines of straight horror, including some disturbing images of a dog, but as the book progresses more typical high school concerns emerge, though they never completely submerge the horror. From my understanding, the later issues of the series does trend more toward the typical high school stories.

And as for the title, since Hyoue is dependant on Amane, he's a bit of the underdog in the relationship.

(UnderDOG, get it? I crack me up.)




- Ferdinand

Old Boy, v. 1

by Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi
Published in the U.S. by Dark Horse Manga



Slugline: After being mysteriously imprisoned for ten years, our hero is set free and starts looking for answers.

I saw the Korean-made movie version of Old Boy (it's out on DVD now) so I have the disadvantage of knowing how it ends (maybe/probably.) It's not a gory movie, but it's violent and mean-spirited. (Some people compare it to Pulp Fiction... which may be true in attitude, but not much else.)

That attitude is laid out in the manga, but more dilutely. In v.1, our nameless hero is released from his captivity and only just begins to start looking for answers. Meanwhile, the bad guys are keeping an eye on him.

The movie is tightly paced and efficient, in the tradition of revenge thrillers, but the manga shows every sign of moving at a distinctly more manga-ish pace. The art and writing are perfectly competent, but it lacks a sense of urgency, for me, and the novelty of the situation can't be re-created because I've seen the movie. So my rating may be biased, but this manga just doesn't stand out enough to be above average.

If you haven't seen the movie and you like dark thrillers, check Old Boy out in manga form and give it a chance. If you did catch the movie, get the DVD and enjoy it again, with extras.



DVD:


- Miranda

Bizenghast, Vol. 1

By M. Alice LeGrow
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: Gothic-inspired dreams challenge two friends in an old New England town that's a perfect backdrop for their adventures.

Bizenghast is the story of Dinah and Vincent. Dinah's parents died when she was very young and she is in the care of her aunt, who lives in an old New England town called Bizenghast, in a former asylum/burned-out boy's school. Needless to say, the traumas make Dinah a bit "fragile" and make Vincent protective of her, which she resents and needs at the same time. When exploring the woods surrounding the town, they come across a mausoleum, and Dinah is forced into a contract to free the ghosts from their dreams by the caretakers of the mausoleum.

Bizenghast's art is very much in the gothic Lolita style, very pretty, with intricate designs that seem very fine and detailed. As if smearing the ink with your fingers would ruin the entire page rather just a few details. My concern is the story, because this graphic novel feels disjointed, cut up into episodes dealing with various ghosts. They skip some of the challenge scenes, and it seems otherwise disconnected. It may be the continuation of the dream logic of the story into other areas, but it still rough.

Also, the timing of story seems off. At the end of the book, there is an introduction to a new character who explains the story background. It is an weird place to end the book, on a distinctly low note, and feels like it should have been at the front of the next book rather than at the end of this one.

I like the story and love the art, but I can't shake the feeling that the story logic is a aching tooth in your jaw, nagging at you when you least expect it.



-Ferdinand

Pichi Pichi Pitch, v.2

by Pink Hanamori
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey



Dishonorable Mention

Just plain sloppy writing. All else aside, it's just plain sloppy.

A series of disjointed scenes, transparently convenient coincidences, and cookie-cutter pre-teen melodrama do not a story make. I can see how it might work -- barely -- in an animated show, but television shorthand does not work in printed media, especially not black-and-white.

- Miranda

Dokebi Bride, v.1

by Marley
Published in the U.S. by Netcomics



Slugline: Sunbi, who grew up in a small town with her shaman grandmother, has to move to Seoul to live with her estranged father and his new family.

The plot isn't yet clear, or this would've been a 4-star book. Volume 1 covers Sunbi's childhood in flashback and the problems of growing up with a shaman's ability to see the spirit world. And even though no goals are laid out -- her mother died because of spirit trouble, but Sunbi doesn't seem motivated by it, and the guardian spirits of the small town are leaving, but then again so is she -- I enjoyed the story very much.

Partly because of the dragon. I haven't seen many traditional Eastern dragons in manga, strangely enough, so it made me smile when a shaman from out of town accidentally summoned the town's guardian sea dragon. We also meet traditional Korean goblins called dokebi and learn a little about guardian spirits. Maybe this is all old hat in Korea, but it's the sort of thing that makes me devour a book even faster.

By the end of the flashback, we know a bit about why Sunbi has moved in with her father and stepfamily, but there isn't any conflict to speak of. Not yet. I expect this title will be climbing in the ratings as the story continues, because the writing and the art show a great deal of promise.



- Miranda

GTO The Early Years, v.1

by Tohru Fujisawa
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Meet Eikichi Onizuka and his pal Ryuji Danma as teenage thugs desperate to get some tail. This is a prequel to Great Teacher Onizuka, but fandom of that is not a requirement.

I'll be honest -- I don't like this art style. Never have. And I'm not much for the toilet humor or the mindset that women are puzzles to be solved for a reward of hot monkey sex.

So it's a bit of a miracle that I didn't hate every page of this huge volume. (344 pages, Amazon says.)

Masturbation, diahrrea and STDs are played for laughs and there are plenty of street fights to go around. But Eikichi and Ryuji manage to do something resembling the right thing at the end of each of the storylines. Oddly, at 16 their biker days are already in their past -- they're making an attempt at finishing high school -- which makes me wonder how young biker gangs are in Japan. 15? 14? Don't you need a license to drive those gussied-up choppers?

(For a hilarious example of gussied-up motorcycles -- and a hilarious movie in general -- check out Kamikaze Girls, if you can find it.)

Eikichi and Ryuji's chances of getting laid are slightly worse than a snowball's chance in hell, but anyone who's seen GTO already knows that. It's not my cup of tea, but I'm still giving it three stars and I'll go so far as to say that the train scene after Eikichi gets a Buddha haircut was funny.



- Miranda

Summer vacation

No post tonight... it's a long holiday weekend, Ferdinand is at Anime Expo and I need a break.

There will also be no posts on July 21 and 24 because we will both be at the San Diego Comic Con (which I highly recommend if you can get to it, for both Western comics and manga, and scifi/fantasy/horror/niche genre movies too.)

No post August 4th as we will be at Otakon wallowing in manga and anime, and that will be the last scheduled day off until November.

Stay cool, everyone.

- Miranda

New Lanchester Strategy, v. 2 & 3

New Lanchester Strategy: Sales and Marketing Strategy for the Weak vol. 2
New Lanchester Strategy: Sales and Marketing Strategy for the Strong vol. 3
Written by Shinichi Yano, illustrated by Kenichi Sato and translated by Connie Prene
Released in the US by Lanchester Press, Inc



Slugline: Learning to beat your business opponents, manga style!

I thought I would try something a little different from what you are used to. A business theory manga. The Lanchester business theory deals with how to beat business opponents by focusing on their weak points and so on. This has been used in Japan as one of the theories employed in their post-WW 2 recovery. This title was translated by a small specialty press in the late 90s that focuses on Lanchester theory works.

The reason I chose to review this particular title is that it is one of the few examples I know of a non-fiction manga, showing the width and breadth of the medium. Because it's not just about which titles tell good stories, it's about what kind of information manga can be used to communicate. And the answer is anything, because stories are just information, theories are just information. This sort of manga has not reached our shores yet, but I hope this can show what other sorts manga can turn up if the market keeps expanding and demanding material, even material that we may not yet realize we want.

This is a three part manga series, but right now only the last two are available via Amazon. The story is told through the eyes of a group leader, striving to do his all for his company, facing opponents both within and without the company. He talks to friends and fellow company members, each time illustrating one particular point of the business theory in an accessible, commonsense way. Nothing really earthshattering about the theories, but it does take some interesting approaches on understanding and applying business theories, both offensively and defensively.



- Ferdinand

p.s. Now seriously, you thought manga was all sailor girls and bishonen, didn't you. As boring as this manga might sound, imagine how much more boring it would be without pictures...

- Miranda

Our other manga reviews

Just a reminder, I do manga reviews at the CBG site, and just posted one on Neon Genesis Evangelion: Angelic Days at the Reviews and Retroviews forum over the Comic Buyers Guide website. Never mind my monthly column in the paper edition of the Comic Buyers Guide.

School Rumble, v. 1 & 2

by Jin Kobayashi
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: Tenma love Oji. Kanji loves Tenma. Despite their best efforts, there's not a single clue between the three of them.

The writer has grouped the short, self-contained chapters into "sharps" and "flats" (as in the musical notations) -- the sharps are about Tenma and Kanji's wacky attempts to get the attention of their crushes. The flats are about Tenma's sister Yakumo, who is far more serious and has some psychic ability.

It's an interesting juxtaposition. Tenma's and Kenji's stories are amusing in their desperate, doomed frenzy, and Yakumo's more insightful stories about deflecting attention balance them out. Otherwise, it would just be light and amusing but prone to repetition and sympathy fatigue.

Don't expect anything to come of the romances -- everyone's far too thick-headed and hapless -- and don't be surprised that the writer uses some torturous series of coincidences to pull the jokes off. For a high school comedy romance, School Rumble keeps it light and short and funny, rather than trying to build elaborate misunderstandings that could be solved in two seconds. And I appreciate that, having sat through quite a few of the latter in both English and Japanese.



UPDATED!: Series Update for School Rumble here.

- Miranda

Devil May Cry 3, v.1

by Suguro Chayamachi
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Dante, who ought to find a new job if he hates this one so much, is set on a collision course with his long-lost brother.

Let's face it, there's a reason why video games are not known as good source material for books or movies. It's because even the most story-oriented game is required to provide the players with fight sequences, level bosses or something to do. Like a summer blockbuster, the plot structure is well established and allows only a little room for the other three elements of the story: character, dialog and worldbuilding. Like summer blockbusters, they can be amusing but they won't do much more than that.

DMC3 is very much caught in the game plot structure. Dante shows up, fights, then goes somewhere else and fights some more. Things are told to him, and the reader by extension, but he is a passive receiver of it all. Strange, perhaps, to say that the guy with the two guns and the kung fu is passive, but he only goes where the story requires him to be and does what the story requires him to do. There's a little snarking on the side and a dollop of angst, but it's not much spice, to my tastes.

The art is competent and fans of the game may enjoy reliving their favorite sequences, but for the rest of us it's just some nice pictures and rather obvious use of Lewis Carroll characters. I ought to be able to hand out yellow cards for that sort of thing.



- Miranda

Kuro Gane, v.1

by Kei Toume
Published in the U.S. by Del Rey Manga



Slugline: A samurai prodigy is resurrected as a clockwork man by your friendly neighborhood Dr. Frankenstein and returns to his home town to settle some debts.

Or, at least I think he's a robot -- he gets stabbed a couple times and bleeds. (oils?)

Jintetsu was found dying and picked up by a wanna-be mad scientist (he's a bit too nice to be a mad scientist.) Waking in a very retro-robot body, he finds he has no voice, but he's alive. The scientist uses Jintetsu to get revenge, but dies in the process, leaving his creation to take a talking sword and head home to get some revenge of his own.

The art is rough and there is some allusion to Jintetsu's memories and being demon-haunted, but not much comes of that in v.1. The sword does his talking for him and carries on one-sided conversations trying to figure out the robot's motivations. (He can't be bothered to even nod yes or no, apparently.)

The plots are fairly standard, but the characters are likeable, especially Otsuki, his former girlfriend. This is very much an introduction to the world, as no long-term goals are set and each of the three stories are resolved. So I'm curious where the writer will take this idea in v.2.



- Miranda

Our other Manga reviews

Just a reminder, I do manga reviews at the CBG site, and just posted one on Angel Cup at the Reviews and Retroviews forum over the Comic Buyers Guide website. Never mind my monthly column in the paper edition of the Comic Buyers Guide.

Last Fantasy, v. 1

Written by Creative Won with Art by Yong-wan Kwon
Published in the U.S. by TokyoPop



Slugline: Two brothers try their best to be real in a fantasy world which conspires against them.

Last Fantasy is a clever little take on fantasy stories and gaming, with the characters showing all the traits of classic Monty Haulers, grabbing anything of even marginal value to be sold at the nearest town that has disreputable merchants. Tian (the magical one) and Drei (the brawny one) seek their fame and fortune, mostly fortune, yet never really make the big time. Meanwhile, a dangerous presence lurks the background, planning something not nice.

Sometimes it is hard to create real characters in a parody/humor title, since they are used for such broad purposes that you don't really need to create that much detail in them, and too much detail actually makes it hard to believe that they would act in such broad ways. But this title does play around with some of the fantasy tropes in an interesting way, and the only reason it doesn't rate higher is because I think they are setting up some conflicts, and I am not sure how those later conflicts will play out.

It is interesting that this manwha was written collaboratively, according to the end comments, in a deliberate attempt to rectify a perceived weakness in the overall writing of manga/manwha. Which to a certain extent I can understand, for there has been an interesting argument in US comics (see Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics) that the disciplines of art and writing have been moving apart, and when you try to reintegrate them together, there is bound to be problems. People tend to focus on the art, since that is what you can tell immediately whether or not it is any good, while "anyone can write." Of course, writing well is another thing.

What, did you expect a writer, even one of reviews, not to stress the importance of writing?

We may be biased, thinking that most manga is well written, but let's face it, the bad stuff never gets translated, so we are seeing the top ten percent of manga and thus may be missing the hordes of beautiful but horribly incomprehensible stories. (You can find the comic-book versions of those in any comic book store, though.)

And, oh yeah, after all that, I do think they have put together a pretty strong story. So at least that problem has been solved with them at least.



- Ferdinand

Loveless, v. 1

by Yun Kouga
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: A troubled young boy finds out that a secret world of magic duels led to his older brother's murder.

This title has virtually every aspect of a success: modern-world magic, dueling, mysterious sexy guys, lots of yaoi fanfic fodder, and, most importantly, kitty ears.

Oddly, it's the kitty ears that contribute to the more interesting side of the story. The kitty ears (and tail) are a mark of sexual innocence, apparently, so even the boys wear their purity openly.

Our young hero, Ritsuka, has his ears but everything else about him is damaged goods. His mother is abusive, both physically and mentally. His older brother was gruesomely murdered. He's emotionally detached and may be developing a set of multiple personalities -- a self-defense mechanism against severe abuse.

And then Soubi, his brother's dueling partner, appears and spouts off such an emotionally manipulative speech that it set off my sexual-abuser-alarms, and I'm not even a parent.

Between that and the fact that dueling apparently involves bondage gear, the entire story takes on tones of a metaphor for childhood sexual abuse.

I wonder if that's the writer's intention.

Either way, I guarantee you'll see more boys wearing kitty ears at your next anime convention.




UPDATED!: Series Update for Loveless here.

- Miranda

Other reviews we do...

Just a reminder, I do manga reviews at the CBG site, and just posted one on I Luv Halloween at the Reviews and Retroviews forum over the Comic Buyers Guide website. Never mind my monthly column in the paper edition of the Comic Buyers Guide.

Rebirth, v. 1 - 3

By Woo
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Powerfull vampire is re-constituted from ashes to seek revenge and/or save and/or destroy the world.

If you like big, DBZ-style magic fights, read no further and go buy this manhwa. (Korean manga, ICYDK.)

For the rest of us, Rebirth starts with a fairly standard set of characters (angry anti-hero, two girls struggling to be useful, snarky sidekick, emotionless female killing machine) and gets a bit distracted by its own massive combat sequences for the first two volumes.

(So distracted that a bunch of supposedly hungry monsters spend most of v.1 standing around with lunch in their hands -- take a bite! Up the tension! Doesn't the girl look yummy enough?)

In volume 3, the story launches into some good questions and answers, but then throws in a rather pointless fight and some unsurprising character background for the busty female "Catholic" preist/exorcist.

The characters are solidly developed, but not very interesting... dialog is good in places but mostly flat... plot keeps getting sidelined by combat... worldbuilding... well, it doesn't suck, specifically, except for the vampiric parts.



- Miranda

A Midnight Opera, v. 1 & 2

By Hans Steinbach
Published by Tokyopop



Slugline: Ancient, undead musician has taken up goth rock when his past comes a-knocking in the form of werewolves, zombies, witch-vampires, holy paramilitary orders and romantic trauma.

These two books bother me. First problem: there are some really cool sequences, such as volume 1's combat through a hospital and volume 2's introduction of Elizabeth Bathory. Second problem: the art sometimes isn't clear when it needs to be. The worst example was when a section of wall turned out to actually be a train. (This was sometimes a problem in another title that I really, really wanted to love: Poison Elves by Drew Hayes)

And never mind that I'm not clear on what part of being undead includes having children who can grow into adults. Or being a werewolf. But I'm willing to let it slide.

I suppose I should be thankful, too, that I took French in high school (a thousand years ago,) because he keeps lapsing into it (and German and Italian, once or twice.)

Steinbach's got talent, I'm not going to argue that. There's wittiness and fast-moving combat and werewolves howling atop Notre Dame. There's a beautiful moment in v. 1 when Ein says "You are safe here, my friend." He uses a scratchy-pen art style that reminds me (fondly) of the early issues of Sandman. But the storytelling is rough and sometimes unclear, and in one important place the dialog just doesn't carry the weight needed to convince me that the likes of Bathory is going to change her mind.

I want to see what he writes when he's finished A Midnight Opera.



- Miranda

Kami Kaze, v.1

by Satoshi Shiki
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: Girl with mystical significance is sought by many bad guys and protected by one good guy. Both blood and guts are well represented.

You get your money's worth with this one -- 250 pages for the same price -- and a lot of solidly good combat. The characters are nothing new -- a girl who doesn't know her powers, a stern, untalkative hero -- but the plot both clips along and explains itself adequately, which is good because it also brings its own vocabulary. In some titles, like Basilisk, it can be a bit of work to keep up, but Kami Kaze doesn't bury you in new words (the master of this being, of course, A Clockwork Orange.)

Despite familiar characers and motivations, the story held on to me by sketching out an element-based power structure and a quest to summon 88 beasts. (What are the chances they'll be joining us in a few volumes?)

While not the goriest manga ever, there is slicing and dicing of innocent bystanders and enough sexual innuendo to hint at the possibility of some nasty stuff to come. Like Basilisk, I expect things will escalate quickly. Given the choice between Basilisk and Kami Kaze, though, I would recommend you pick up this one. Slightly more meaning to the gratuitous violence, if you know what I mean.



UPDATED!: Series Update for Kami Kaze here.

- Miranda

Madtown Hospital, v. 1

by JTK
Published by Netcomics



I'm going to give Netcomics this one as a mulligan. Check out some of their other titles... just not this one.

- Miranda

Secret Chaser

Dishonorable Mention:
Secret Chaser, v. 1
by Tamayo Akiyama
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Obviously, the writer being an original member of CLAMP doesn't guarantee anything. The first 50 pages turned me off so badly -- viral hypnosis! bossy 12-year-old CEOs! Look, ma, I'm Sherlock Holmes! -- that I only skimmed the rest. It didn't get better.

- Miranda

Dogby Walks Alone 1

Created by Wes Abbott
Published by TokyoPop



Slugline: When there is a murder mystery in the happiest place on Earth, only Dogby, mightiest of the mascots, can be counted on to solve it.

Dogby Walks Alone is a continuation and extension of a Rising Star of Manga-winning short from the second collection. The never-revealed Dogby is the unofficial force for justice in HappyPlace, the happiest theme park in America. Except for the ex-Russian mafia security forces, amuck mascots from rival theme park Illusion Valley and the Bondian-villain-like HappyPlace management. Despite the chaos of place, and the mass disgruntlement of the workers leading to a robbery of the day's receipts, Dogby cares about only one thing.

The Princess has perished.

And someone has to pay.

Ranging from serious to tragicomic, Dogby Walks Alone is a detective story wrapped up in homages to dozens of different works, from Chinatown/Chinatoon to video games to the Blues Brothers. But around it, though the creator tries to undercut it deliberately, is the core of the story of Dogby wanting to do justice for the Princess, even though she couldn't respond to his own caring about her. While the art and sometimes the story is uneven, the characters ring true to their own world, and if you can appreciate some ironic humor, Dogby Walks Alone is for you.



- Ferdinand

Other reviews we do...

Just a reminder, I do manga reviews at the CBG site, and just posted one on Unearthly at the Reviews and Retroviews forum over the Comic Buyers Guide website. Never mind my monthly column in the paper edition of the Comic Buyers Guide.

Platinum Garden, v.1

by Maki Fujita
Published in the U.S. by Tokyopop



Slugline: "Indecent Proposal" meets the antiquated Japanese extended family structure, with a dash of weirdness.

Kazura's grandfather died in debt to a very rich boy, Mizuki, so naturally he offered his granddaughter as collateral. Mizuki requires her to move in and be his fiancee.

I am glad to say that some things are explained fairly soon after these odd (and illegal) requirements are announced. Some of the developments are not surprising (Kazura will be going to Mizuki's school too) and some are more interesting (Mizuki's role in the family business.) Some of the characters are stock stereotypes (the "perverted" 20something male) and some are... close to being stereotypes (Kazura puts up a bit of a fight at first, but she's softening up fast.) The dialog is well translated and the arguments are amusing, balancing out the moments that felt forced and/or arbitrary.

So it balances out to a 3, and could go either way in the next volume.

And in case you were wondering, Ferdinand will be back after his many writing deadlines ease up, including his manga column in Comics Buyer's Guide and his weekly manga reviews on CBGxtra.com.

p.s. "Oops?" It's called burnout, Ferdinand. I'm so out of opinions that Secret Chaser couldn't get more than an eyeroll out of me.



- Miranda

Oops

Mistake on our part folks, a new review was not posted last night, a new one will posted tonite and then back to the normal schedule tomorrow.

-Ferdinand

No Man's Land, v. 2

by Jason DeAngelis & Jennyson Rosero
Published by Seven Seas



Slugline: A Civil War vet hunts demons in the wild, wild west. And yes, it's partly his fault that they're there.

Pick up volume 1 of this OEL so you know that we're in the middle of a showdown with one of the bad guys. After the fight -- which is just as over-the-top as any manga -- the story pauses a bit to fill in some background.

This being a horror title, No Man's got a dark past, linked to both Lincoln's assassination and the disastrous spell that unleashed demons into the world. The incident cost him his wife and son, as one might expect.

These are story elements we've all seen before, so here's what sets No Man's Land apart from other demon-hunting stories: it's a well done "weird west," which I have a soft spot for, (doesn't everybody?) and it doesn't have the cultural misperceptions that crop up in Japanese manga. For example, the Quakers are correctly portrayed as pacifists.

(I would never hold it against a Japanese title for getting American cultural details wrong, but when Catholic nuns start waving magic wands topped with the star of David, it gets really distracting.)

IMO, Seven Seas is a publisher to watch. Everything they publish is OEL and quite faithful to the manga style, right down to the reverse-reading. I'm looking forward to watching Western and Eastern graphic literature hybridize and develop its own style.



- Miranda

Kamui, v.1

by Shingo Nanami
Published in the U.S. by Broccoli Books



Slugline: A paranormal paramilitary organization recruits a wandering stranger whose secret goal is to take back the thing that just might be giving them their powers.

The elements of this story are quite familiar: a stranger with significant powers, a group of jaded, infighting teenage "generals" (since in manga everyone turns into a pumpkin on their 21st birthday) with paranormal powers, sidekicks in the snarky and overly slavish flavors, post-apocalyptic monsters, and a lost McGuffin that will Fix Everything. However, Kamui presents it all in a fresh, energetic manner.

Atsuma is searching for Okikurumi, a spirit -- aka kamui -- and finds a city controlled by NOA, a paramilitary replacement for the previous government, which was destroyed by giant earthquakes. NOA is headed up by various angsty and otherwise preoccupied officers and their lackeys; Atsuma's arrival shakes things up a bit, and will probably soon shake it up much harder.

Not the newest storyline in the genre, but Nanami-san has a good director's eye in his artwork, doesn't fall into angsty monologues for more than a panel or two, and keeps everything relevant to the plot. That way, things click right along and he gets two volumes' worth of introductions done in one. I may be getting older, but I'm not slowing down -- I've got things to do and places to be and if a writer's stuck in the mud, I can find something better to read. Kamui is, let's see, fourth or fifth in a cluster of pretty good stuff, though. I may be getting spoiled.




- Miranda