Fairy Navigator Runa, vol. 1

Story by Miyoko Ikeda with Illustrations by Michiyo Kikuta
Published in the US by Del Rey Manga

Slugline: In the original legends, fairies were anything but nice.

Runa was left at an orphanage as a baby, never knowing her parents but told by a teacher that Runa's kindness was her strength and that she needed to be careful or the weight of it would crush her. Runa never really understood what her teacher meant until two strangers that could transform into animals approached Runa and told her that she was the fairy princess. Her parents gave her up to protect her but now there was an open portal to the fairy realms so other fairies will come since Runa is the only one who could freely travel between the worlds. However, for Runa to use her powers makes her cold and distant, so she needs all of her friends from the orphanage and the fairy realms in order to keep her on an even keel and remind her that kindness is what makes her powerful, not fairy powers.

Runa comes across as another sweet and gentle story intended for younger readers, but then towards the end shows a bit of bite. When Runa loses her cool and wants to harm another fairy (for admittedly perfectly valid reasons) her dark side emerges that is genuinely disturbing in contrast to her earlier behavior. While she quickly gets herself back into under control, the fact that her dark side is so clear cut brings extra meaning to the story. The fear that she could lose control of herself is meaningful, rather than her just being a light and fluffy character that says she has to be good, or else. The supporting characters don't seem to know who they are, with their decisions furthering the story but not making much character sense. Still, for a children story it seems to be more willing to show the consequences and costs of power than most.

Fairy Navigator Runa, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Neko Ramen, vol. 1 Hey! Order Up!

By Kenji Sonishi
Published in the US by TokyoPop






Slugline: Not realistic in that no cat work around that much water.

While on his lunch break Tanaka decides to try out a new ramen shop and discovers it has the strangest chef he has ever heard of.  It is not that the ramen chef Taisho is particularly skilled (in fact, he does not seem to be very good) but instead that he's a cat.  Taisho ran away from home, determined to not be like his cat model father who specialized in being too cute for words.  After his dream of being a sushi chef fell through (he snacked on the fish) he turned to ramen noodles. Taisho swears that he plans to become a famous ramen chef, but his ramen never really improves and he seems to be more interested in fame than anything else. Strangely he ignores his quickest route to fame for while Taisho knows that he is a cat, he refuses to act like one and ignores that others refuse to do the same.  You can find most of the humor of the series coming from either Taisho's ineptitude or the face he is a cat in a chef's world as Tanaka tries to be the voice of reason.

Neko Ramen is another 4-koma but like many other 4-koma collections, there are several short stories in the volume that are not. Unlike many other 4-koma collections, the shorts work very well and continue story threads that were begun in the 4-koma. A lot of the humor derives from jokes about ramen noodles, so on occasion there are gags that lack punch because they rely on knowing more about ramen noodles than one would normally know outside of Japan. That being said, most of the jokes come across without any difficulty because they rely on standard comedic situations such character obliviousness. The strongest source of humor comes from Taisho's inability to accept that a talking cat could be unusual, and while it could have gotten monotonous, those gags are broken up with enough other kinds of humor that it never does.

Neko Ramen, vol. 1 Hey! Order Up! is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Starcraft: Ghost Academy vol. 1

Written by Keith R. A. Decandido with Art by Fernardo Heinz Furukawa
Published by TokyoPop

Slugline: Brain panning is not an "This your brains on drugs" reference.

This manga fills in a missing gap in the Starcraft: Nova novel when Nova goes to the Ghost Academy.  In Starcraft, Ghosts are psionically powerful humans that are drafted to help keep the Dominion secure.  Nova is training to be one after suffering the the standard traumatizing childhood awakening of her psionic powers that both drives and isolates her.  But she is not allowed to be too isolated because the Ghost Academy trains in teams, and because of her isolated nature the others in her team suffer in their grading.  Things come to head when one of her teammates, a son of powerful political leader, helps create a situation in which another teammate who is a drug addict goes off the rails.  Though Nova helps her teammate and graduates to the next stage of her training, she has her memories erased of the incident and gains a new foe she does not even remember.

This is another title where the lack of knowledge about Starcraft handicaps the reader since it seems to expect that you already know background. This is made worse because Nova has already starred in a novel with the manga taking place in a gap in the novel.  As an example, some of the characters seem extraneous but if the reader knew the larger story their presence may make sense. The main character Nova is in a journey to be more connected to her fellow soldiers, but there is a moment of that journey that is missing. In the manga she realizes her behavior is harmful, and there are moments where she connects with the rest of her team, but there the moment in between when she makes the decision to change which is missing. While these are problems, they are not terrible ones since one of the purposes of the manga is to fill out the Starcraft backstory, so as long as it does that the manga has some worth.

Starcraft: Ghost Academy vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Happy Cafe, vols. 1 + 2

By Kou Matsuzuki

Published in the US by TokyoPop

Slugline:  Don't people need to search for happiness somewhere other than small shops?

Uru decides to live on her own so not to get in the way of her mom's happiness with her new husband, so despite still being in high school she has gotten her own place and her own job.  Her job as a waitress at a cafe brings her into contact with odd people, the strangest being the cafe's chef Shindo who is a strange mixture of caring and impassiveness.  The three workers of the cafe help each other and their patrons out, though mostly Uru needs their attention.  Uru, after she learns she didn't have to leave the house, needs the help to balance her own growth and independence to her mother and stepfather's protective impulses.  Otherwise their major challenge is when a competing cafe issues a challenge to them but despite Uru's foolhardy acceptance of it, everything turns out well though the competing cafe workers settle into a resigned tolerance of Uru and her cafe. 

This is another entry in 'happiness can only be found in a small shop' genre of manga.  This reminds me a lot of Haru Hana, which was reviewed in March, not in the characters but in the situations that they find themselves in.  In both an late teen, early twenties woman enters the shop, whom the female protagonist first looks at in suspicion but whom later becomes friends of the shop's workers because of the way they help her.  She becomes a supporting character that continues to show up and in both titles the character is introduced at the end of the first volume.  But while this a faithful entry into a well-established sub-genre, it still is a solid one.  Other than one or two extreme character traits (which in comparison to other manga are not that extreme) it remains well-grounded.  The story and characters deliver a satisfying but not particularly memorable manga.



Happy Cafe, vol. 1 and vol. 2 are both available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

-Ferdinand

King of RPGs, vol. 1

Written by Jason Thompson with Art by Victor Hao
Published by Del Rey Manga

Slugline:  We will deny any similarities between the reviewer and the manga's characters

Shesh had a problem with computer RPGs, but after the therapy, shock treatment and lifetime wireless ban he goes to college and can act somewhat normal.  There are temptations at college but when Shesh goes to a RPG club he discovers they have pen and paper RPGs rather than the computer games he once abused.  As he considered leaving he is challenged by the gamemaster Theodore and after his friends ask him to, he decides to play just one game.  What he doesn't know is Theodore is his match in obsessiveness but to pen and paper RPGs.  Theodore discovers a talent to provoke Shesh into unleashing his frenzied player persona that therapy had supposedly tamed.  After dealing with the repercussions of his first gaming session, Shesh's attempt to find a gamemaster to safely game with brings him into conflict with a gamer that takes advantage of the collectible games and a student officer who is convinced of the evil of playing games.

This manga hits in the middle of my two loves (well, the ones that are not real people at least) manga/comics and tabletop roleplaying games.  I may not have been as obsessive and as Theodore, but my college room (my house now) was filled with just as many game rulebooks as it was graphic novels and manga.  While my time in college predates World of Warcraft and other MMORPGs that broke Shesh, other computer games were just as effective on people I knew, in fact I knew people similar to all the characters.  So all of the characters ring true, but are overlaid with a shonen filter.  This includes that no one is really bad, they are misunderstood or victims of circumstance and everything devolves into a personal challenge.  Still, it has enough gaming in-jokes to satisfy the gaming crowd (such as the culmination of the final story arc of the volume harking backing to a gaming urban legend) but does not need in-depth gaming knowledge to get the humor and the story, which was the problem with the review earlier this week of .hack//4koma.

King of RPGs, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

.hack//4koma

By Koichi Sumimaru

Published in the US by Tokyopop

Slugline: hack is just a very bad cough

.hack is one of those series that appears to be very popular despite all of my attempts to understand it.  Considering that there is little attraction for me towards a humorous take on it.  It seems that most of the volume requires previous knowledge of the .hack characters and story in order to get the jokes, though I suspect even if I did understand more of the references I would not find them very funny since the their setups are not very interesting.  The volume is actually a compilation of four different creators take on .hack, though Koichi Sumimaru is responsible for most of the material.  This is unfortunate, since that material is the least funny in the volume despite giving the title it's name.  The 4koma, or four panel gag strips, starts the volume, making it a hard slog to wade through it and reach the other creators contributions.  Most of the other creators' material can be understood on its own, without being already immersed in the .hack universe, but by the time you reach it any enjoyment that could be had has been leached away.  Unless you are a hard-core .hack fan, especially of The World and The World R:2, there is nothing here worth your time.

.hack//4koma is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Ratman, vol. 1

Story and Art by Inui Sekihiko
Published in the US by TokyoPop






Slugline: Rats are not exactly good models for heroes or villains.

Shuto wants to be a hero, which is more possible than the typical childish fantasy because he lives in a world where super heroes are common. Even though he is short for his age and so few people take him seriously, he continues to espouse the notions of justice that he believes are the bedrock of heroes. Only two people seem to take his desire seriously, a slightly odd student at his school named Mizushima and Rio, the daughter of the head of the Hero Association. Shuto finally gets his chance to be a hero by rescuing Mizushima but discovers that it was to trick him to undergo an experiment and be forced to become a villain by Mizushima's sister. Shuto's first mission as a villain brings him into conflict with the Hero Association, leading to Rio vowing to hunt him down personally along with the Hero Association as a whole.  Shuto is torn between his heroic desires and the messed up reality that he finds himself forced into.

Shuto has the sort of personality that is so earnest in wanting to be a hero that he would normally annoy anyone. So when the trap is sprung and he is forced to become a villain instead, Shuto's stunned response makes the story. Sure, that particular twist can be seen coming a mile away, but since it is a twist that the character would never expect because of his nature, the readers can allow themselves to enjoy it. Sadly, for the moment the female characters are just foils for Shuto to react against rather than having their own personality.  While parts of the manga descends into parody the fact that Shuto is taking the heroic ideals so seriously suggest that will have a more mature examination of them, though the rest of the story may be less so. It is the interplay between the two that will keep things interesting.

Ratman, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

The World I Create

By Ayami Kazama
Published in the US by CMX Manga

Slugline: Believing is Seeing

This manga is about people that have the ability through magic lanterns to create illusionary environments that can encompass all of the senses.  These 'projectionists' share their school grounds with a more traditional high school so that they share many of the same problems of typical students except that their conflicts are not just over grades but over their special abilities.  A couple of students that have had trouble advancing  in their training end up creating worlds not for their teachers but for each other.  A student that is losing her projectionist ability has to decide what her last illusion will be and how she will keep her projectionist friends despite moving back to the ordinary school.  Two students first aggravate each other then help each other reach ever greater heights in their abilities.  A student is worried that he will lose his girlfriend if she pursues her projectionist abilities.  In all of these different stories characters from the others visit but the problem of each story remains their own to resolve.

This is an all ages title, and the conflicts in each story reflect that rating in that none of them are intense though they can be bittersweet and their relationships while having the beginnings of romance for the most part are innocent and sweet rather than hot and heavy. It is not much of a surprise to find out that at the heart of each story is the revelation, the showing of a truth. That ties in with the characters' projectionist abilities, because in most cases that truth can only be shown through those abilities. But this is one of those times were the all ages ratings holds back the title, because the stories could be so much more bold than they end up being. A less restrictive rating could have allowed higher and more varied stakes rather than leaving the reader with a sense of repetition and a mild disappointment that the manga was not more.

The World I Create is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Red Hot Chili Samurai, vol. 1

Created by Yoshitsugu Katagiri
Published in the US by TokyoPop

Slugline:  Just as spinach gives you strength chilis make you a swordsman.

Kokaku is the son of the Han's (or province) leader.  The province is small and poor so Kokaku has to help in keeping the peace, which he is glad to do because it allows him to kick butt on a regular basis.  Unlike many other samurai Kokaku does not feel the need to use his sword to kill, having been taught while he was young and impressionable that the sword was to protect people.  Kokaku has some friends who help out in upholding justice and other cool sounding catchphrases like that.  These are the studious and serious guy, the competitive girl and the silent ninja, all of whom do not really need names since they are their appearances.  Despite his need to make sure that the people are protected and justice is served, Kokaku still has more than a healthy ego, often revealing his family tattoo of a black crane when knocking out his opponents so that they know who beat them.

Something about the name Red Hot Chili Samurai led to the impression of the title being more energetic and interesting than the resulting rather standard adventure story with samurai trappings.  The samurai aspect does not seem to be that important since anachronisms are introduced on the flimsiest of reasons.  The use of the chilis, rather than being symbolic of characters or having some subtle meaning becomes just another gag.  The supporting characters are straight out of central casting with only the smallest of flourishes to make them unique.  While there is an attempt to show Kokaku's motivation, by the time it is introduced there is already ample evidence that shows instead his desire to be the center or attention and put his opponents in their place.  That way, Kokaku gets to be arrogant in an acceptable way.  None of the characters are mean, but neither are they as heroic as they think they are.

Red Hot Chili Samurai, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Rampage, vol 1

By Yunosuke Yoshinaga
Published in the US by CMX Manga

Slugline:  Who knew the skull could be sliced through like butter?

Zhang Fei is a wanderer in ancient China during a period when the bureaucratic eunuchs corruption has lead to civil unrest.  Which basically describes all of China's history, but in this instance the forces hoping to bring change are called the Yellow Turbans. In their fervor to bring change they commit as many crimes as their opposition, so Zhang Fei agrees to join a volunteer force against them lead by Liu Bei. He sacrifices his life to save a little girl but instead of dying he wakes with a cursed spear after a near-death dream experience. When in fear for his life the spear takes control and is relentless in destroying the enemy but is reluctant to return control over his body. Liu Bei is revealed to be secretly a woman and has experience with the power that has Zhang Fei in its grip, so he joins her and her army despite being told of the risks of the cursed spear, hoping that they can help each other with his power and the Yellow Turbans.

One of the annoying things that I find with historical Chinese tales is that I can never keep all of the names straight so that the frustration of working out character references by their context may be spoiling my review. That may partially explain why it seems that the characters' rationales and why they react in the ways they do always seems to be off in the title, appearing to be more the creation of convenience and plot rather than motivation. But since the whole point of these characters is for gratuitous violence and nudity, accomplishing that seems to be more important than the journey there. This is not a deep story, at least not yet, so looking for anything more than battle scenes and having a chance to ogle some non-sexual nudity is probably asking for too much. The violence is done in loving details while the nudity is not, with them not being tied together so the story so far has not been disturbing, but it is just an excuse for violence. Fortunately, it well orchestrated violence.

Rampage, vol 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Deadman Wonderland, vol. 1

By Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou
Published in the US by TokyoPop

Slugline:  Prisons and amusement parks are not a good combination

In the near future Ganta is among the few survivors of the Great Tokyo Earthquake but by the time he is a teenager he barely remembers it and has adapted to high school life.  The mysterious Red Man then kills everyone else in his class and Ganta is convicted of the crime and is quickly sent to Deadman Wonderland, a combination private prison and amusement park built on Tokyo's ruins.  Private prisons are never nice places in fiction and Deadman Wonderland is no exception with prisoners pitted against each other to entertain visitors and earn privileges.  In the case of death row prisoners like Ganta, the privileges include living for another three days.  To help him survive long enough to prove his innocence a childhood friend from pre-earthquake Tokyo is helping him while Ganta also learns to master the powers that the Red Man left in him while killing his classmates.

While there are some similarities to such titles as Battle Royale and Death Note (here are our reviews for Death Note 1-6 and 7-10), here the main tension seems to be from Ganta coming to grips to the mysteries that surround him.  The Red Man is central to these mysteries and at this stage in the series he is like a storm that comes in and upsets the natural order of Ganta's life. Shiro, Ganta's childhood friend, helps lighten the title though still leaving the danger in it intact. That way the story is not too dark though how maniac Shiro is will have to be managed so it doesn't become silly and descend into parody, admittedly not terrible danger. This is a good start to a potentially complex emotionally charged thriller, but it is still only a good beginning not proof of a successful continuing title.

Deadman Wonderland, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga

-Ferdinand

Only One Wish, vol. 1

By Mia Ikumi
Published in the US by Del Rey Manga

Slugline:  Why do people like monkey paw stories so much?

Students believe in an urban legend that if you text under the right conditions you will get an angel to make one wish come true. But things are never that simple. Here, as in many other monkey paw-like stories, getting exactly what you wish for leads to the worst possible outcome.  The angel will fulfill only one wish, there is no chance to take it back, no matter how much it is needed. In this volume, a trio of friends tear themselves apart from jealousy and anger over who will wish a boyfriend to them. A dead girl has to find the wrong boy to kiss to bring herself back to life. A boy and girl who are so alike have blindly to find each other across the city. A girl shrinks a boy down to doll size until he loves her. In all of these, what can go wrong with the wish does often without any recourse.

This seems like a monkey paw in search of a good story to grasp onto. At first, having wishes go wrong seems like a good foundation for a series but variations of it has been done so often it is hard to find a new take. Plus if the story is always about wishes going wrong, reading it gets depressing as people keep on destroying themselves despite the best of intentions. This problem is realized as while the first story has a very traditional 'be careful what you wish for' story the later ones depart from that strict formula. The angel is a like a ghost character which helps prevent readers from blaming her for the evil that befalls the other characters but there is nothing emotional linking the stories together. The manga feels well written but empty. There is a short Tokyo Mew Mew! story included for the creator's other fans.

Only One Wish, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Haru Hana, The Complete Collection

By Yuana Kazumi
Released in the US by TokyoPop

Slugline:  What is better, music or a massage?

Hana has just moved to Tokyo, hoping to overcome her previous experiences with boys and work at being a violinist.  Her problem is that she breaks out in hives whenever she even touches one, but she hopes that things will change.  Haru is a fellow student that soon learns to tease Hana by touching her and causing her to breakout, but he has his own problems that he needs to be distracted from.  He works as massuesse while trying to recover his memories, while Hana is forced to work at the same place to pay off her sister's debt.  Needless to say it is inevitable that these two will team up together, each using their own skill in a relaxation center that is named after them, Haru Hana, as they work to understand and help each other (and the occasional walk in customer).  And of course, become emotionally involved.

Haru Hana falls into this weird territory between plot driven manga and slice of life ones.  The volume's stories are meandering but have some purpose, but not enough to say that they are moving towards something.  It is only until the final third of the volume, when the creator probably realized that some sort of conclusion was needed that Haru's amnesia subplot is resolved with various aspects skimmed over to do so.  Even the romance between Haru and Hana remains sketchy, but despite it the reader is left with vivid impressions of the series.  The character art helps, being very evocative so that after most of the storylines have been forgotten there remains a very strong image of Haru and Hana working and playing in the shop.  It is that ability to create a lingering image and set of emotions that makes this series worthwhile.

Haru Hana, The Complete Collection is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Hanako and the Terror of Allegory

By Sakae Esuno
Published in the US by TokyoPop

 

Slugline:  Is eating fish with human faces cannibalism?

Aso Daisuke is a former police investigator that  is now a private detective with an unusual focus, dealing with allegories that are more popularly know as urban legends.  For instance, when Kanae Hiranuma hears the urban legend of the axe murderer who lurks under the bed, the story has such an effect on her that it literally becomes real to her, a situation that Aso rescues her from.  Unfortunately she cannot pay her bill and decides to work with him and his even stranger partner Hanako to pay it off.  The cases soon become even stranger and more bizarre, moving from the gotcha factor of the axe murderer to a full-blown psycho-sexual laden tale involving human faced fish.  The manga is given more meaning by the fact that Aso is suffering from allegories himself, making him both less and more than just human.

At first it seem like this will be another creepy-crawly filled horror manga, but it is during the human faced fish story in the last half of the volume that it becomes clear that this is something more else.  The horrors the characters face become less important than then the ones that live in the characters' minds and drive them.  The story could use better explanations of the urban folklores used in the background, for while the allegories that drive the story are well explained, the ones that drive the characters seem less so, especially the one that Hanako is part of.  For an explanation of it, click out this link.  Much like the creator's other work, Future Diary (see the Prospero's Manga review here) this appears at first like many other stories but soon shows that the idea behind it can be much deeper than what the source material may originally suggest.

Hanako and the Terror of Allegory is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

My Darling! Miss Bancho, vol. 1

By Mayu Fujikata

Published in the US by CMX Manga

Slugline: Not ashamed to know how silly it is.

Souka has decided to attend a technical school so she can quickly graduate and get a job to help out her recently divorced mother. Unfortunately she made a mistake and her chosen school is run by grade-based gangs that have many fights and school wide rumbles. It is so bad that Souka quickly discovers that she is the only girl left enrolled at the school yet because she has already paid the tuition she is reluctant to just quit. To encourage her stick around the class leader Yuuki gives her an iron plate to defend herself so while caught up in a brawl she uses it to knock out the Bancho, or gang leader of the whole school. That makes her the school's gang leader so she chooses to defend her title out of fear that someone worse will take it and she uses the role's influence to make something of a school populated by hooligans. That and trying to figure out the violent yet nurturing Yuuki, of course.

While in the beginning of the manga it tries to to tell the story seriously, by the end of the volume it has accepted that the whole idea underlying the manga is a little silly and has decided to roll with it. This becomes especially blatant in the inevitable beach trip chapter. It is this willingness to use the cliches of the formal challenge, the requires field and beach trips of school manga that helps makes what would be just another school manga into something that will be actually remembered. Well, that and the manga has a slightly unusual setting being set at a vocational school, which does not appear to be that different from a regular school but in my understanding has differences that run far deeper than just the cosmetic appearance, so hopefully those differences will come into play in the series.

My Darling! Miss Bancho, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Panic X Panic, vol. 1

By Mika Kawamura
Published in the US by Del Rey

Slugline:  Why are the bad guys always more interesting than the good guys?

Mitsuki and Kakeru have grown up across the street from each other, her the heir of a Shinto shrine while Kakeru the son of a priest, while their fathers were in constant competition.  That competition has spilled over to their children's relationship so that they do not get along either in school to the surprise of their classmates.  They usually just annoy each other but now demons that have been kept out of the human world for hundreds of years have been released and only Mitsuki and Kakeru can stop them.  Until they find the seals to permanently seal away the demons, they have to work together to convince the demons that have entered the world to behave themselves. 

What a surprise.  The most popular boy and girl in school can't stand each other despite knowing each other since childhood now they have to save the world from a threat that no one else can perceive.  While the plot aspects of this manga are interesting and show some originality the characters themselves do not.  If anything they show very cookie-cutter characteristics, especially in that despite Mitsuki's supposedly equal power in dealing with demons she is instead acts helpless and deals mostly with the demons by talking and making friends with them.  Considering how cliche it is for the girl to be the one to fulfill that role in a story, the characters need to be really interesting in order to overcome that and none of them are up to the challenge.  This is a case where the formulaic approach overcomes everything else and makes this an easily forgettable manga.

Panic X Panic, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Stolen Hearts, vol. 1

By Miku Sakamoto
Published in the US by CMX Manga

 

Slugline: Despite years of reading manga, I am still not sure what the difference is between a kimono and a yukata.

Koguma is the stereotypical big tough guy that exists in every teen manga, so when Shinobu spills something on his package she fears the worst especially when she learns it contained an antique kimono.  Shinobu agrees to work with Koguma to pay for the damages, but rather than doing hooligan-related activity she expected she instead learns that she will be joining him in working at his grandmother's kimono shop.  Given the chance to see him outside of the school where all anyone can see is his looming size Shinobu sees that he is more and they enter into a relationship.  But they both have a lot of work left to do in their relationship and get their schoolmates to see past both Koguma's reputation and the odd appearance they present when together from their height differences

This is a fairly light and fluffy school romance manga, mostly because the relationship is in the honeymoon period where everything the other one does is cute and perfect.  This manga feels more like an all ages title due to the combination of a somewhat educational storyline about the kinds and a how-to of wearing kimonos, and in that Shinobu's focus seems to be getting others to see past Koguma intimidating appearance rather than their own romance.  Koguma is a softy, an emotional blank that happens to look big and tough who is anything but.  His grandmother as a background character who is obsessed with money, seems to be more interesting than him.  Despite the weak romance element, there is still something about the manga that keeps readers' interest despite the face the elements and characters individually do not.

Stolen Hearts, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

The Lizard Prince, vol. 1

By Asuka Izumi
Published in the US by CMX Manga

 

Slugline: Dating outside of your taxonomic Class should require a PG-13 rating

Canary is Linaria's princess and has reached marriageable age while the neighboring Gazania also has a unmarried prince but Heath has a bad reputation.  Canary is only willing to meet Heath to berate him, but he has no desire to do that and switches places with his magical talking lizard, Sienna.  Sienna is charming while masquerading as Heath and convinces Canary to visit him again.  Heath is surprised by Sienna's actions so he decides to be rude to Canary to drive her away.  Canary sees through his deception and declares her love for Sienna, which lifts a curse to reveal that he is Heath's brother.  But as Sienna gets closer to Canary they are forced to rely on his lingering ability to turn into a small lizard to solve problems for their kingdoms and for themselves.

This title straddles the line between shoujo for teens and a more all ages title.  All ages titles stay away from deep relationship/sexual issues to keep their rating while most shoujo titles have to go into those waters because their whole point are relationships.  Not to say that shoujo titles are solely about teens trying to hook up but they still delve deeper into relationships than the relatively platonic love that Canary and Sienna seem to share.  The title reads like a shoujo but after a while it feels that something is off and that confusion sabotages the story.  The shoujo aspects should have been further submerged or been embraced fully.  This makes this title perfect for the tween age bracket, those who are not quite ready for a 13+ title but who desperately want to be.

The Lizard Prince, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Choco Mimi, vol. 1

Story and Arty by Konami Sonoda
Published in the US by VizKids


Slugline: Preteen girls on the prowl

Choco and Mimi are fashionable eighth graders that enjoy their lives way too much. Sure, Choco can be called the serious one and Mimi is the silly one, but only in comparison to each other since Choco is still fairly silly. In between causing trouble for their teacher and driving each other nuts, Choco and Mimi let themselves be mildly attracted to boys. Boys like the serious and aloof Ando and the gender confused Mumu. To round out the cast is Chiffon, a cute little dog that thinks of himself more as a samurai and several other pets. Most of the strips are about the girls interacting and getting each other in and out of trouble, but occasionally it deals with their delicate dance to attract the boys' attention.

Most of the volume is made up of 4-koma, basically four panel comic strips, so the stories that are told by necessity are little gag scenes that have little connection to each other. There are several longer storylines about major events such as a party that takes a couple of strip to resolve the events but there are no character changes and their relationships. Unlike comedy focused stories for boys, Choco Mimi does not have any fart or other bodily humor jokes which saves it from being totally ignored by adults. Despite having all of these good bits and the occasionally funny joke, in aggregate it just doesn't mesh well enough to create something greater than the parts. For adults and boys, this is a barely tolerable strip while younger girls who find playing with paper dolls and fashions might find it worthwhile.



Choco Mimi, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand

Oh! My Brother, vol. 1

By Ken Saito
Published in the US by CMX Manga


Slugline: Siblings who are way too close.

Masago is the younger sister of the popular class president Shiro. Even though he is far more popular and gets better grades than her, Masago looks up to him even as she plays second fiddle to him. After all, being close to her brother gives Masago an opportunity to indulge her crush on his best friend, a fellow school council member. One day while walking home from school Shiro sacrifices himself to save Masago from a traffic accident and everyone at their school, including Masago herself, is devastated. Shiro is not gone, because his spirit has apparently set up a time sharing arrangement with Masago's body. Mosago and Shiro have to work together to finish his last project for the school council while making accommodations for each while using Masago's body.

Despite all expectations, the fact that Shiro is overly protective of Masago in that way manga often describes as 'sister-love' the story manages to not come across as too creepy. Creepiness all too easy even when the siblings aren't forced to share a body so that makes Oh! My Brother stand out more. The manga comes to a natural conclusion about three quarters of the way through the volume but the story is picked up in the next chapter and is crudely restarted. While the resulting story is fine, continuing it seems to have been last minute decision which may explain the story's uncertainty afterwards. This is only a two volume series so that may be a hindrance that the story never really recovers from, but in this volume it does pretty well.



Oh! My Brother, vol. 1 is also available from Right Stuf, Intl., an online retailer specializing in anime and manga.

- Ferdinand