Honey Hunt 5

Honey Hunt continues to be one of the best soap opera manga around. Yura is starting to gain recognition for herself as an actress as her new series debuts to great ratings. She runs off on a date with pop singer Q-Ta and her manager stays up all night calling her phone. Q-Ta’s attitude towards Yura continues to be basically selfish. He does seem to like her, but he wishes she would stop acting so she’d have more time to spend with him. He blurts out that he’s dating her on a national TV program, triggering the beginnings of a scandal. In contrast his brother Haruka genuinely admires Yura’s acting ability, notices her becoming more confident, and just wants her to succeed. Yura’s manager continues to act like a jealous schoolboy when Q-Ta is around, and the two men have sophisticated debates about Yura over the phone “She’s mine!” “I’m going to take her away from you!” As a shoujo heroine, Yura is a bit of a wimp but it is nice to see her so thrilled about the response to her acting career. Yura is delighted when fans recognize her on the street and call her by her own name, not referring to her as the child of famous parents. Some flashbacks showing the evilness of Yura’s mother inspire even more sympathy in the reader.

Flower in a Storm Volume 2

I think part of the reason why I like this short series is all the varied transportation options available to the characters. In this volume there’s a helicopter, motorcycle, horse, and a jetski. Two volume series generally seem a bit rushed to me, and there wasn’t much transition leading up towards the decision for Riko the girl with super physical abilities to start dating the heir to a megacorporation Ran. But there were some cute moments between them, like when Riko notices that Ran hasn’t eaten (he fears being poisoned) so she makes a snack for him herself. While the storyline might not be the most coherent, I appreciated the stylish art and the romance/action movie mash up vibe as Ran and Riko continue to fight of assassins and dream of a normal life together. I’m going to be on the lookout for more from Shigeyoshi Takagi if it is translated over here, I’m really curious to see what she do with with more space to develop a story.

Nana Volume 21

I’ve been putting off reading this since it is the last volume of Nana until Ai Yazawa is able to produce more chapters. There’s been a feeling of impending tragedy hovering over the past several volumes of Nana, and something irreversible finally happens in this volume. It isn’t necessarily a bad stopping point for the series, as the characters come together to deal with tragedy in their individual ways. Nana manages to display all the messy emotion that comes when facing a crisis. Even though there are unresolved storylines, I’m still left with a feeling of hope for Nana and Nana H. They’re such strong characters that I hope they’ll be able to support each other and move beyond the crisis somehow. Yazawa focuses on the small details of interaction that illuminate her characters’ personalities. Takumi yells at Nana H that she doesn’t know anything because she just stays home cooking all day, but grips her hand when he gets horrible news on the telephone. One of the things that’s good about such a long series is that the reader builds up a sense of shared history with the characters. When everything falls to pieces it makes it more interesting to see how everybody reacts and how the bonds of friendship are either made stronger or begin to fray.

Review copy of Nana provided by the publisher

Hanako and the Terror of Allegory Volume 2 by Sakae Esuno

I had mixed feelings about the first volume of this manga but I enjoyed the second volume a lot, mostly due to the opening story which was funny and provided an interesting twist on what happens when you make a bargain with the devil. Allegory detective agency office girl Kanae becomes a victim of an allegory yet again when she drunkenly wishes to become an idol singer when she’s out doing karaoke in the presence of two mirrors turned towards each other, thus summoning “the demon in the mirror”. She wakes up the next morning to find that she’s become a star despite the fact that she can’t sing and her signature song has extremely lame lyrics “I am not powerless! Ya can’t look away! Because my rack won’t let ya!”

Aso and Hanako get to work on trying to save Kanae but when she realizes that she’s been possessed by an allegory she decides to torment it by escalating her demands of superstardom more and more until the allegory finally begs to be released from her. At the end of the story we see a glimse of a budding romance between Kanae and Aso, as when told that when she wakes up nothing from her idol days will have happened she decides to give Aso a kiss on the cheek. This story was amusing, providing Esuno an opportunity to comment on pop idols. I especially liked all the baffled newspaper headlines that detailed Kanae’s rise to stardom.

Other stories in the collection include “Teke Teke” about allegory attacks that might actually be part of a complicated suicide pact, a story about a girl who ends up reuniting her family after her allegorical attack, and the ouija boardish Kokkuri-san. While Hanako and the Terror of Allegory is very episodic, there are suggestions of more of an ongoing storyline as Hanako confronts Kanae about Aso’s true nature. As Aso continues to investigate allegories, his existence is being changed. While Kanae might hope for a romance with him, it might not be possible.

This is a good example of why I generally like to read a couple volumes of manga before deciding to give up on a series. I enjoyed this much more than the first volume. I generally don’t tend to stick with monster of the week manga series for very long, but I’m curious to find out what is going to happen to Aso as he deals with his allegorical detective cases and the loss of his humanity.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Biomega Volume 1 by Tsutomu Nihei

I’ve been meaning to read Biomega ever since Kevin posted this lovely panel, go look at it if you haven’t read the series yet, then come back!

I think that there are some defining questions you can use to get a sense of someone’s personality – Beatles or Elvis? Mac or PC? Red Sox or Yankees? Taking bear with gun or no talking bear with gun? Either you are the type of person to find the idea of a talking bear holding a machine gun intrinsically delightful, or you are not. And if you don’t like talking bears with machine guns, I’m not sure if we can still be friends anymore.

In Biomega the future has turned into a dark, moody zombie apocalypse. Humanity has been infected by a horrible virus that turns most people into a gooey shambling undead army, but a few precious people are able to contract the virus and still retain their humanity along with super-healing powers. Zoichi Kanoe is a kick-ass artificial human on a mission. His mission appears to be driving a motorcycle awesomely and shooting zombies even more awesomely. Zoichi finds Eon Green, a girl who is able to accommodate the N55 virus, along with her protector the talking bear Kozlov L. Grebnev. Zoichi loses Eon and goes to get her back.

Dialog in Biomega serves more as random punctuation for a parade of fight scenes and dystopic scenery. Fortunately Nihei happens to be really good at drawing run-down urban backgrounds and bullets hitting people and zombies in the head. What makes Biomega better than your typical zombie tale is all the inexplicable elements that seem initially weirdly out of place yet function just right within the story. Why is Eon inexplicably wearing a bear costume when she’s captured? Why does her tower home look like it has been transplanted into the future from London? I don’t particularly care about the reasons why because it is all so lovely to look at.

Zoichi’s interactions with Kozlov L. Grebnev are hilarious and wonderful action pieces that could only work in the comics medium. Usually I tend to get annoyed when manga is too dark, but in Biomega’s case it serves to enhance the feeling of darkness in the world the characters inhabit. If I’d read a lot of zombie comics, or if Biomega didn’t feature a talking bear I’d probably be a little less interested in this title. Fortunately now I know I can pick up the next volume when I’m in the mood for some good old-fashioned head exploding violence.

I usually read more books than this! I kept picking up books and putting them down without finishing them after I finished the third book in the Millennium Trilogy.

Books
Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Manga and Graphic Novels

Stolen Hearts 2
Butterflies, Flowers 3
Night Head Genesis #1
Goong: The Royal Palace 1-4
Johnny Boo Vols 1-3
Gatcha Gatcha Vols 1-3
20th Century Boys 8 and 9
Saturn Apartments #1
Twin Spica #1
Fables: The Good Prince
Fables: War and Pieces
Fables: The Dark Ages
Biomega #1
The Sheikh’s Reluctant Bride
The Shiekh’s Contract Bride
Sale or Return Bride

Head over to Project Rooftop to look at a great revamp of Amethyst Princess of Gemworld as an all-ages title!

One of the problems with the the great manga boom in the past is that I think some good titles got lost in the deluge of new series. Gatcha Gacha is one of those series that I think deserves a second glance. This series was published by Tokyopop, and it probably wasn’t helped by the presence of the similarly titled Gacha Gacha from Del Rey. I picked up the first three books in this series after seeing some reviews over on A Case Suitable for Treatment.

In a manga publishing world filled with cookie cutter heroes and heroines, the main characters in Gatcha Gacha are all a little bit off in a way that makes the series refreshing even while it steps through some shoujo plot cliches. Yuri is the heroine of the manga whose decision to “live for love” has left her with a string of horrible ex-boyfriends. Her tendency towards serial monogamy has given her the reputation of being a slut, even though she optimistically just throws herself into relationships hoping that everything will work out. One day Yuri’s attention is captured by Motoko Kagurazawa, a super popular ultra athletic sociopath who enjoys checking out other girls in their gym costumes. Kagurazawa notices Yuri staring at her, and Yuri soon finds herself tied up in a closet for interrogation. Yuri promises to not tell anyone about her observations and as she escapes the clutches of Kagurazawa she runs into a lanky boy names Yabe running from a gang. He turns around and beats them up when one of them bumps into Yuri. Yuri decides that Yabe is the coolest guy she’s ever seen.

Yuri and Kagurazawa strike up an unlikely friendship, as Kagurazawa offers up details about Yabe saying that he makes “your other boyfriends look like champions.” When one of Yuri’s ex-boyfriends tries to offer her up to a gang to pay his gambling debt, Kagurazawa beats them up, then tells Yuri that she owes her. A love quadrangle promptly develops in the series as Yuri pines after Yabe. Yabe and Kagurazawa have an unspoken connection. The student council president Hirao runs into Yuri as she’s trying to chase Yabe and develops a crush on her. But the calm collected Hirao is utterly unable to confess his feelings, so he spends most of his time stalking Yuri, much to Kagurazawa’s amusement.

Gatcha Gacha has a certain seedy quality that makes it entertaining. If most shoujo manga is Beverly Hills 90210, Gatcha Gatcha is Melrose Place. One of the reasons why I like the series is that none of the lead characters have the bland, calculatedly likable personalities that you usually find in manga. Yuri’s blind stupidity about her dating life leads her towards picking the most inappropriate guy possible for her, but her pathological cheerfulness combined with the variety of random skills she’s picked up from her many exes ensures that she’ll obliviously come out ahead in most situations. Yabe is a serial womanizer and delinquent. Most of the time when Yuri is able to catch a glimpse of him he’s being chased by a gang of thugs or by an angry ex-girlfriend. Kagurazawa seems to enjoy spending most of her time observing other people mess up, making cutting comments, and occasionally kicking people in the face. Hirao seems to be the prototypical shoujo hero, but his stalker-like behavior and inability to express his feelings make him somewhat pathetic.

The first volume sets up the characters and their relationships. The second volume shows the relationships developing, often through the lens of a supporting character. So Hirao is shown thinking that he’s pathetic because he can’t talk frankly to Yuri, but we also see Hirao through the eyes of his vice president who also has a helpless crush on him. While Yuri is oblivious of Hirao’s feelings, other girls notice him staring at her and she has to fend off some attacks from mean girls. One of the things that I find amusing is the way random violence sometimes is used to resolve conflicts in this series. Kagurazawa’s unlikely background and past with Yabe are also detailed. Even with her love of low-brow pastimes like professional wrestling, she comes from a privileged family. The girl that Yabe might never be able to get over is Kagurazawa’s lost sister.

I find the character designs in Gatcha Gacha very appealing, particularly Yabe who looks like a punked-out Shaggy with his goatee and earrings. Yuri’s short curly hair makes her look like an adorable moppet, and Kagurazawa’s long and lean look makes her slightly menacing athleticism believable. Gatcha Gacha isn’t particularly deep, but at the end of three volumes I was entertained and wanted to find out what happened to the four main characters.

I talk about the season premiere of Mad Men with some of the other Bureau Chiefs.

I’ve been curious to check out the manga adaptations of Harlequin romance titles, and the folks at emanga were kind enough to load up my reading list with a sampling of titles, so expect to see a few reviews of these titles over the next few weeks. I find them absolutely hilarious summer reading. For all I might make fun of the romantic cliches contained in these titles, I tend to think of Harlequin as a really progressive and savvy publisher. They started an early ebook initiative. They have imprints that you might not instantly recognize as Harlequin, like Mira and Luna (for sci-fi and fantasy books). They also have a Young Adult line. So I was honestly not surprised to see that they’d licensed their books in Japan with Ohzora Publishing to provide stories for manga adaptations since 1998. I decided to start with a sampling of books that had the word “Bride” in the title.

The Sheikh’s Reluctant Bride by Ayumu Aso and Teresa Southwick

A girl named Jessica travels to an Arabian kingdom to look for her long-lost relatives. She’s met at the airport by a handsome man in a suit who turns out to be the prince of the country, Kardahl. He is known more for his womanizing ways than his performance of his princely duties. Jessica is shocked when he announces that she’s going to be his wife. Unfortunately Jessica has a bad habit of not paying close attention to documents that she signs that she’s unable to read in a foreign language, and sure enough she has signed a marriage contract with the prince! Of course they agree to act as if they’re married, and Jessica fins out that Kardahl is not a womanizer but a man haunted by his past and only she can heal his emotional wounds. I found the art in this title not very well executed, but sort of charmingly over the top. Both main characters have bee-stung lips that would make Angelina Jolie jealous. Kardahl has a terminal case of the pointy chin, as his face often looks like a triangle with a nose. There are so many sparkles on every page, it should be called the “The Sheikh’s Reluctant but Inadvertently Twinkling Bride”.

The Sheikh’s Contract Bride by Teresa Southwick and Keiko Okamoto

Funnily enough, Sheikhs seem to have a habit of importing foreign women to marry. In The Shiekh’s Contract Bride there are some twin identity switching shenanigans as a bonus. This book serves a sort of sequel to the Shiekh’s Reluctant bride, since the Sheikh in question is the brother of Kardahl.

The production quality for these manga, particularly the lettering isn’t great. There were many spots where there were empty word balloons or awkward placement of the English lettering. I tend to be more forgiving of these glitches in electronic only editions, but it did make for a more awkward reading experience. Adina and Alina are identical twins, and the eldest twin Adina has been promised to a Shiekh and trained to be a queen since birth while Alina was ignored by their ambitious father. Adina falls in love before she was supposed to meet her fiance, so the sisters switch places. Alina introduces herself to Malik as Beth, and they begin an unconventional courtship. Beth starts quizzing Malik about his views on arranged marriage and he finds his future wife interesting since she’s not the modest and submissive woman he was expecting. The art on this title still as a bit of a rushed quality, as I would expect that these volumes are production line type adaptations. But the character designs were a lot more attractive than the ones in The Shiekh’s Reluctant Bride.

Sale or Return Bride by Kazuko Fujita and Sarah Morgan

I really liked the title of this manga because it made me think of someone picking out a bride at Filene’s Basement, not liking her even at bargain prices, and then returning her for a different model. I thought that this was the most entertaining title of the three I sampled, because while being forced to marry desert princes with topaz eyes the color of the sand is fine, evil scheming grandfathers make for a more entertaining story. I knew I was going to be reading something good when the second page proclaimed “A blond beauty spoiled by a wealthy Greek family. This was the bride’s profile. But behind this mask lay a cruel plot of vengeance.” I’m all about cruel vengeful plots in romance novels!

Alesia is stunned when her grandfather tells her that she’s going to marry Sebastian Fiorukis. Their families have been locked in a hate-filled business rivalry for decades. Furthermore, the Fiorukus yacht was the site of a horrible accident that killed Alesia’s brother, injured her mother, and left Alesia barren. Alesia’s grandfather decides that he’ll complete his revenge on the Fiorukis family by ensuring that their family line will not continue to the next generation due to Alesia’s inability to have children. Alesia is willing to go along with the charade because she’ll be able to get money from her new husband to pay for her mother’s much needed surgery. She’s embarrassed at the clothes that her grandfather insists she wear before she meets her new husband but her grandfather snaps “Be quiet! It’s just right for catching that man’s attention! Remember you are my air-headed, luxury loving grand-daughter!”

The art in Sale or Return Bride was the best of the three. It felt to me like the artist had more time to plan out and execute the illustrations for the manga adaptation. Alesia and Sebastian are both blessed with long curly hair, and the artist does a good job showing Alesia’s embaressment and repressed rage as she attempts to portray the idiot heiress she’s supposed to be. Of course her true nature shows through and while Sebastian and Alesia originally approach the marriage as though they are enemies their growing attraction to each other turns the marriage into a real one.

These were all quick reads – I felt like I breezed through these titles in around half the time it would take to read a more serious or artful manga. But as the manga equivalent of summer beach reads, these titles worked very well if you find romance novel and shoujo art cliches amusing. I’m going to check out more of these Harlequin manga in the future, they’re perfect to read when you want to be diverted by something light and silly.

Access to electronic copies of titles provided by the publisher.

A Drunken Dream and Other Stories by Moto Hagio

A Drunken Dream is one of the most anticipated new manga in the manga blogosphere. Hagio is an influential author and her works have been hard to come by since the earlier Viz editions of her work They Were Eleven and A, A Prime are out of print. I was very excited when I got my hands on an ARC of this book, which contains short stories that span Haigo’s career. The selections include stories originally published from 1977-2008. For a through overview of Hagio and her influence, check out the Manga Critic’s recent post.

I thought was interesting to read the interviews that accompanied the book, especially the part where Haigo mentions that she read Anne of Green Gables. The first story in the collection, “Bianca,” features a scene straight out of one of the Anne books. Clara’s equilibrium is disturbed when her cousin comes to visit. Bianca likes to run away to commune with nature, and in one scene Clara sees Bianca talking to “Bianca in the Mirror.” Anne invents a friend in a mirror when she’s living in one of her many foster homes before she arrives at Green Gables. The whimsical imaginative children that populate the early works in Haigo’s collection do not end up living happily ever after. Haigo doesn’t go for Lucy Maud Montgomery’s overwhelming sentimentality. In “Girl on Porch with Puppy” the child who likes to sit on the porch and experience the rain meets with an abrupt and metatextual end from the family who doesn’t understand her.

Many of Haigo’s stories express feelings of longing and loneliness, as well as serving as commentary on artistic expression. In “Autumn Journey” a boy travels to meet the author he idolizes, who happens also to be the father that abandoned him. Johann meets his half-sister and they talk in the garden. Johann is content with leaving without talking to his father, saying “He may once have been my father…but now he’s something else. A dream. He’s my favorite writer.” In “Marie, Ten Years Later” an former art student named Taichi remembers the friends he used to be close to in college. None of their artistic dreams have come to fruition, and the marriage of his friends Marie and Katsumi didn’t create happiness for the pair. Taichi is determined to finally put on his art show, but he thinks back to the lost trio of friendship in his youth that contained “Every possibility/Every miracle/We held hands/And formed a perfect circle.”

“A Drunken Dream” will appeal to fans of one of the few Haigo works previously available in English, A, A Prime. A scientist named Safaash arrives at a research center in space where he’s immediately drawn to Lem, a hermaphrodite. Both scientists have had dreams of their past lives which feature each other and a great love that’s doomed to never be fully expressed. Images of the past juxtapose with the futuristic background of the space station as the characters play out a predestined scenario that leads to a lack of fulfillment and endless sadness.

“Iguana Girl” was the story in the collection that remained in my mind weeks after reading it. A mother is horrified by her newborn daughter because to her, the baby looks like an iguana. Rika grows up with her mother rejecting her, while her human-looking sister Mami is given all the maternal affection she needs. Rika is drawn as an iguana in human clothes when her mother relates to her, and when she’s confronting her own self image. But pictures of Rika show her to have a human outward appearance, and her classmates are puzzled when Rika refers to herself as ugly. Rika’s personality is shaped by her mother’s hatred, and as she grows up she marries and moves far away. Rika eventually finds some resolution and peace as she has her own daughter. Haigo’s illustrations of “Iguana Girl” are extraordinary. Seeing Rika-as-iguana going through all the normal stages of human life, relating to her classmates while still internalizing the feeling that she truly is a different species serves to outwardly express her feelings of isolation. The tangled emotions of mother and daughter make Rika strong, but also creates a trap she needs to escape from. Like the best short stories, “Iguana Girl” packs a novel’s worth of emotion and experience into a few short pages.

Since I haven’t seen the book itself yet, I can’t comment on the production quality. But Fantagraphics always seems to be the most lavish of publishers, creating books that are worthy collector’s items due to their high production values and I expect A Drunken Dream will be a worthy addition to any manga fan’s bookshelf. Anyone interested in the historical development of manga and the women who’ve contributed to the art form should read this book. I hopeA Drunken Dream sells well enough for Fantagraphics or other publishers to consider putting out some of Haigo’s longer works. Her short stories are great, but I’d love to see what she does with a longer storyline.

Shinobi Life Volume 4 by Shoko Conami

I’ve somehow fallen behind reading Shinobi Life. This is sad, because it is one of my favorite shoujo series currently being published. But also good! Because now that I’ve finished volume 4 I can run out and get the next volume and enjoy more of the story. I mean, just look at the cover of this series. Could Beni and Kagetora be any more adorable?

This volume sets up a major turning point in the relationship of the poor little rich girl from the present day and her time traveling ninja bodyguard from the past. Beni and Kagetora are prevented from pursuing their relationship due to Kagetora’s inflexible ninja honor. As long as he’s working for Beni’s father, he won’t pursue a relationship with her. The situation is complicated further by the presence of Beni’s classmate Rihito, the classmate she is supposed to marry due to a business deal between their respective fathers. Rihito has his own time-traveling ninja Hitaki, who absolutely despises Kagetora. As the volume opens Kagetora gives Hitaki a savage beatdown when he attempts to touch Beni. Kagetora is reprimanded and and then fired by Beni’s father, so Kagetora promptly announces “I owe fealty to no man. I can do as I see fit. I will protect Beni-Sama of my own free will.” With that, he takes Beni’s arm and the would-be couple runs away.

With all the time-traveling ninjas popping up everywhere, you might think that Shinobi Life is silly. Instead it is just very heartfelt and sweet. The humorous moments tend to be character-based and serve to propel the story forward. Beni falls asleep at a train station, and Kagetora is determined to seek lodging. He finds a love hotel and assumes that it is an elegant modern inn. Beni rushes him inside and insists that he stay in the room with her even though he is horrified that there’s only one bed. Beni and Kagetora are delightfully physically awkward with each other, with plenty of blushing and averted gazes. I only hope they manage to consummate their relationship by the end of the series. While they are on the run Beni realizes that there’s no way they can escape her father. She wants to journey back in time in order to be with Kagetora. He’s reluctant because he’s been branded as a traitor in the past and doesn’t want to drag Beni into a life of hardship.

One of the things I like about Shinobi Life is that the characters you might just hate in a more simplistic manga have depth, back story and motivation. Rihito discloses more of his past to Hitaki so the reader learns about his twisted childhood and his fear of losing something that he cares about. While Rihito is obviously not the right man for Beni it is hard not to feel sorry for him, especially the way Conami piles on the pathos in portraying Rihito as a little boy.

I like the subtle ways Conami’s art shifts depending on the moods of the characters. When Beni and Kagetora get into a tickle fight inside a changing room when they are trying on clothes, her line becomes more loose until the characters almost devolve into chibi form. Then, the close-ups of the characters’ faces as they become more aware of each other’s physical presence signals the shift in mood. There’s plenty of romance in Shinobi Life, but the romance is made more interesting by the revelation that Beni’s father isn’t shocked to find out that Kagetora is a time traveler, and perhaps the unusual powers exhibited by Beni’s mother also have something to do with time travel as well. I’m very curious to see what’s going to happen next in this series!