Rasetsu and Tail of the Moon Prequel

These two volumes are continuations of other series that I’ve enjoyed in the past, Yurara and Tail of the Moon. I was curious to see if these spin-off series were as enjoyable as the manga that inspired them.

Rasetsu Volume 1 by Chika Shiomi

For some reason it took me a long time to read this book. I kept picking it up, reading a few pages, and putting it down. While the story seemed to fit well as a continuation of Yurara, there was a certain amount of dramatic tension missing that I think I subconsiously expected from the previous series. Rasetsu is a woman who has a very familiar look to her – she resembles Yurara’s guardian spirit. Yako, the ghost hunter from the previous series is all grown up and when he goes to visit Rasetsu’s agency he is struck with her resemblance to the spirit he loved and lost.

He tags along on Rasetsu’s missions and is able to help out with his water-based powers that contain spirits. Rasetsu has a habit of powering up before exorcisms by eating an insane amount of sweets. She’s also possessed by an evil spirit who threatens to consume her forever if she doesn’t find her true love. There’s a certain amount of attraction between the outspoken and spunky Rasetsu and the stoic and somewhat antisocial Yako. He gets in trouble with the unfortunate suggestion that Rasetsu consume straight sugar instead of spending a fortune every week visiting cake shops. I’m probably going to buy the second volume of this series due to my residual fondness for Yako as a character, but I’m not finding Rasetsu nearly as entertaining as Yurara yet. I hope the second volume is better.

Tail of the Moon Prequel: The Other Hanzo(u) by Rinko Ueda

The Hattori clan seems to have an odd habit of naming all their ninjas Hanzo. So while Hanzo Hattori and Usagi’s romance was detailed in Tail of the Moon, the other Hanzo(u) was the blond and womanizing Hanzou who was steadfastly in love with the ninja princess Sara despite his roving eyes. Tail of the Moon Prequel: The Other Hanzo(u) gives readers a glimpse into the origin of the romance between Hanzou and Sara.

A girl named Kaguya has a case of horrible amnesia and a crescent shaped scar on her back. She was taken in by a brothel and works by cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children there. One day the infamous Hanzou visits the brothel. When he catches a glimpse of Kaguya he is curious about her and offers to pay for the time just to talk to her. He brings her a hair ornament and they begin to spend more time together. They fall in love. But their love is a forbidden one, because Kaguya is actually the ninja Sara from a rival ninja clan! She was sent to kill Hanzou’s master and nearly succeeded, except Hanzou wounded her in battle thus causing her amnesia. When Hanzou tells her the truth, she runs out into the woods, stunned that she’s actually his enemy.

Sara’s companion ninja Rikimaru locates her and with her lost memory activated she gets to work to fulfill the terms of her botched mission despite her desire not to cause harm to Hanzou. There’s never any doubt that these lovers will prevail somehow. A second story in the volume features Sara’s undercover mission where she almost marries Usagi’s Hanzo in order to retrieve a valuable recipe for gunpowder. I enjoyed reading about these secondary characters from Tail of the Moon. Ueda’s art features clear, crisp layouts that highlight both smooching and ninja action. This was a satisfying single volume, and while it doesn’t have the comedic antics of Tail of the Moon I think it would serve as a good introduction to Ueda’s work for people who might hesitate to pick up a multi-volume series.

Bloody Kiss

Bloody Kiss Volume 1 by Kazuko Furumiya

Even though the vampire genre has been overplayed, I still enjoy a good vampire manga. Bloody Kiss is a new vampire series that is refreshingly angst free. Kiyo is a plucky schoolgirl who manages on her own since her parents abandoned her. She unexpectedly gets an inheritance from her grandmother – a spooky house way out in the country. When she visits the run-down house she discovers that she has two unexpected vampire tenants, Koroboshi and his attendant Alshu. They greet Kiyo as their new landlady.

Kiyo announces that she’s thinking about to tearing down the house and selling the land because she plans to attend law school. The vampires aren’t too happy about this. Koroboshi asks Kiyo if she’ll be his vampire bride. He can only suck blood from one chosen human and he hasn’t picked a bride yet. Kiyo refuses. She tends to be somewhat immune to Koroboshi’s vampire charms. When he creeps up behind her and acts like he’s going to suck her blood, she flips him over her shoulder and on to the ground. When he tries to glamour her, she’s taken in for a moment and then yells “Stop that!” Koroboshi is immediately smitten by her strong personality. There’s a nice contrast between the gothic look when Koroboshi is acting like a stereotypical vampire and Kiyo’s slapstick action responses to his overtures.

Kiyo’s ends up moving in with the vampires because she’s recently left her Uncle’s house. Koroboshi becomes an unexpected ally. When Kiyo’s shady lawyer sells the land without her permission and shows up with bulldozers to raze the house, Kiyo places herself in front of the machines. Koroboshi decides to help her. He drinks her blood and acquires the power to smash the construction equipment. Kiyo’s blood comes in handy when Koroboshi helps her after she volunteers to help out at a school dance. Vampire domestic life centers around Kiyo’s horrible cooking and Koroboshi foiling Alshu’s attempts to dine from his bride. There’s plenty of humor in the interactions between the characters, as seen when Kiyo asks why the vampires just seem to sit around the house all day. Don’t they have jobs? Alshu says “We vampires prefer decay and thrive in the darkness. That is our true occupation. You humans may label it with the unflattering word “unemployed”…but we prefer a more reflective and elegant term. We are black rose aristocrats.”

For readers wanting a vampire manga that combines romance with comedy, Bloody Kiss is a promising series. I’m looking forward to seeing how the relationship between Kiyo and Koroboshi develops.

Game X Rush Volume 1

Game X Rush Volume 1 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Memori is the cutest and only bodyguard at his brother’s Kenju’s protection agency. Memori is constantly overworked because his brother tends to spend the all the money the business makes gambling. Memori is feeling a tad emo as the story opens. He feels lonely and wishes he had a partner to work with. Memori runs into a blond boy outside the office, who is impressed with Memori’s athleticism after he leaps off a ledge. After commenting on Memori’s smooth moves, the blond boy asks for a job. Memori doesn’t like the blond boy’s attitude and says that there are no open positions at the agency.

Suddenly a girl tries to jump off a nearby bridge. Memori races to help her and ends up holding her while dangling in the air. The annoying blond guy pulls them to safety. The girl Noe doesn’t remember trying to jump off the bridge, but she’s been the victim of several accidents recently. Memori agrees to protect her. The blond boy introduces himself as Yuuki Shin and suggests that he tag along on the job as a trial for more permanent employment. Memori agrees, and they go off to investigate Noe’s house.

This manga seems like it will be developing into a fairly typical “client of the week” type procedural, filled with unexpressed sexual tension between Memori and Yuuki, with the occasional bit of comic relief from Memori’s older brother. So I was surprised that after the duo works together in foiling a time bomb to protect Noe, Yuuki abruptly whips out a garrote and heads over to strangle her. It turns out the Yuuki is a vicious assassin….or is he?!

Tonally Game X Rush is a little bit all over the place. Is it a madcap action comedy? A tender bromance between an assassin and a bodyguard? A drama about guys for hire saving helpless girls from stalkers? Memori and Yuuki always seem to keep running into each other, and when the 13 year old female president of a rival bodyguard agency tries to recruit them they are forced to work together. The art is attractive, but I sometimes found the dialog to be a bit overwhelming to the illustrations. Still, there was something about the bickering between Yuuki and Memori combined with the occasional flash of murderous rage and violence that kept me entertained. While I’m not completely sold on this series, I’ll read the second volume to see how it develops.


Review copy provided by the publisher.

The Lord of the Sands of Time

The Lord of the Sands of Time by Issui Ogawa

I was curious about the new Viz line of scifi books, Haikasoru. I tend to enjoy books about time wars because I like the complexity found in the idea that a battle in the past can change the future of time traveling soldiers. In The Lord of the Sands of Time, humans in the future have engineered soldiers called messengers to fight a war across time against insect-like alien invaders. Since the aliens can travel through time, war is fought in multiple time streams and the messengers are aided in the necessary temporal battle logistics and planning by an almost all-knowing artificial intelligence program.

A messenger with strong feeling about the need to protect humanity finds himself in ancient Japan, and he meets the priestess Miyo. Messenger O starts to prepare Miyo’s people to fight the enemy. Japan may be the battleground for humanity’s last stand throughout time. Ogawa takes full advantage of time traveling in the way he structured the book. Flash backs and flash forwards abound as the novel switches back and forth from Messenger O and Miyo’s points of view. There is a bit too much exposition front-loaded into the first couple chapters, which I found a bit difficult to get into. But once I’d read the first 35 or so pages I felt I had the background information about the characters I needed to proceed.

O has already been profoundly affected by the human Sakaya, who instilled in O the value “Devotion to humanity.” Miyo sees O as someone who can help her not only with the alien bugs, but someone who may be an ally in the shifting political machinations of the ruling court that she serves as a figurehead. Her exposure to battle causes her to see many of the nameless people that serve her as human for the first time, and her admiration for O turns into affection. O finds a few brief moments of respite from battle in Miyo’s company. I’d say that Miyo is more changed by O than he is by her, but he has a perspective that has been shaped by centuries of battle across time.

I found the details about the society of the messengers very interesting since they look human and have relationships with humans, but are always set apart. The shifting time lines cause people and relationships from their past to simply disappear when the messengers fail in battle. These lost connections only exist in the memories of the messengers that are left behind to fight again as they travel through time.

At only 250 pages, The Lord of the Sands of Time is a brisk read and definitely worth checking out if you enjoy time travel stories. When I finished the book I wished it had been a bit longer because I was enjoying the intricate plot and developing relationships between the characters.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Marmalade Boy (complete series)

Marmalade Boy Volumes 1-8 by Wataru Yoshizumi

Instead of reading the new manga in my recent DCBS shipment, I’ve been spending the past few days immersed in the out of print Tokyopop series Marmalade Boy. Although this series is out of print, I don’t think it would be too hard to pick up the complete series through ebay or through finding used copies on Amazon. I got all my eight volumes through Paperbackswap.com. An interesting bit of trivia about this series is that it appears to be the first unflipped manga Tokyopop put out! So in addition to being an entertaining shoujo series it is a part of manga publishing history 🙂

Volume 1

The plot of Marmalade Boy begins with a sudden wacky wife-swapping premise. Miki is an ordinary high school student. She’s sitting around drinking tea with her parents when they smilingly announce that they are getting divorced. They say that while they were on vacation in Hawaii they met another couple, the Matsuras. Miki’s Mom fell in love with Mr. Matsura and her dad fell in love with Mrs. Matsura. The feelings were mutual, so they’ve decided to get divorced, swap partners, and remarry.

Miki freaks out and complains to her best friend Meiko at school. Meiko notices that the situation has improved Miki’s can-crushing abilities as Miki lashes out in frustration. Miki leaves school for a family dinner with her parents and the Matsuras. She thinks that even though her parents are weird, they are still her parents, and she has to stop them from following through with their insane plan. Miki is shocked to see that the Matsuras seem nice and normal. They say they have a son named Yuu, and Miki looks forward to a potential ally in stopping the parent swapping insanity, thinking “someone else to relate to my suffering!”

Yuu ends up being an extremely cute boy who is Miki’s age. She bursts out with her objections to the plan and is amazed that Yuu is nonchalantly accepting the whole situation. The parents say that they are going ahead with their plan and they will rent a big house and live together as a family of six. Miki gives up, but doesn’t feel comfortable with the situation. As they start moving in together Yuu starts teasing Miki, calling her ugly and leaving behind a wad of gum as a souvenir when he shakes her hand in friendship. Miki’s normal happy and energetic personality is dampened by her strange new living conditions.

Miki’s mother warns her “Don’t fall in love with Yuu,” saying that it would be confusing if the two teenagers started dating. So it is easy to see where the series is heading! Yuu starts attending Miki’s school. She wants to keep their unconventional family arrangement a secret. Yuu is immediately popular with the girls at school, but his cool and reserved personality makes it seem like he is always holding something back. Yuu notices that Miki is close with a boy named Ginta who is in her tennis club. Miki confessed her love to Ginta years ago and was rejected in the worst possible way, by seeing Ginta commenting to his friends about the love letter she wrote to him. Ginta and Yuu are suspicious of each other. While Yuu continues to tease Miki, he also comforts her when she gets upset by her parents’ antics. After Miki gets sent to the infirmary at school Yuu visits her. She pretends to be asleep because she’s afraid that he’s going to tease her. Instead, he kisses her. Miki finds Yuu simultaneously irritating and fascinating.

Meiko is concerned about Ginta’s actions as he starts to display signs of jealousy. Meiko sees Miki’s interest in Yuu is a sign that she’s getting over Ginta’s rejection from before, and she warns Ginta not to interfere. One of the things I like most about Marmalade Boy is the feeling of warmth the reader gets from reading about the relationships between the characters. While plenty of drama happens, it is firmly within the context of people connecting with and caring for each other.

The first volume concludes with Ginta abruptly kissing Miki, Miki becoming aware of her growing feelings for Yuu, and the appearance of the inevitable interfering girl – Yuu’s ex-girlfriend Arimi.

Volumes 2 and 3

The next volumes deal with the developing love triangle between Miki, Ginta, and Yuu. Ginta and Yuu confront each other outside Miki’s house. Ginta tells Yuu that looking at him makes him sick. Yuu responds “I don’t get sick looking at you, but you’re not even worth wasting energy on.” Ginta is left outside to yell in frustration. When Ginta’s jealousy over Yuu lead him to tell Miki that he loves her, Miki is understandably confused about her feelings and she relies on Meiko for support. Yuu hasn’t done anything to acknowledge the kiss he gave Miki when she was faux-sleeping. Miki comments “Who do I like more? I have to consider everything very carefully. You know, I don’t think I care much for either of them anymore.” Meiko counsels, “Let’s not go crazy now!”

Yuu discovers that Meiko has a secret – she’s been meeting with her teacher Mr. Namura in the deserted library. Yuu promises her that he won’t tell anyone, and asks if Miki knows. Meiko has kept her relationship a secret from her best friend. The boys are forced together to play a doubles tennis match against a rival school, and Ginta’s feelings for Miki cause him to lose his focus. As Miki is sorting out her feelings she realizes that she feels awkward around Ginta and comfortable around Yuu. They share everyday moments like going shopping or sitting on a park bench.

The lovelorn duo of Ginta and Arimi decide to pretend that they are dating each other in an attempt to inspire some jealousy from their objects of affection. Unfortunately things don’t work out as they planned, and Miki and Yuu grow closer even if they aren’t officially dating. Miki’s life is disrupted when the truth comes out at school about Meiko and Mr. Nakamura’s relationship, although her parents use the revelation as an opportunity to discuss the allure of teacher-student forbidden love. Miki is shocked to find out that she didn’t know what her best friend was going through. Yuu supports both Meiko and Miki as they patch together their friendship again.

Volumes 4, 5, and 6

In the middle of the series the reader begins to learn more about the reasons why Yuu often seems to hold himself apart from other people. He thinks his mother had an affair before she married, and his father isn’t his biological father. Miki helps Yuu deal with meeting a man who might be his father, and in the emotional aftermath they acknowledge their feelings for each other and start dating. They decide to keep their relationship a secret from their deranged parents.

Miki starts a part-time job with the hope of saving up money in order to go on a vacation with Yuu. Meiko channels the sadness about her relationship with her teacher and her innate bookishness to produce an award-winning first novel. Even though Ginta and Arimi initially started seeing each other as a way of tricking Yuu and Miki, they start growing closer. Throughout all the drama and outside events that effect their lives the bonds between the characters remain strong.

Volumes 7 and 8

In the final two volumes, the characters are all growing up and beginning to come into their own. Meiko decides to fight for her relationship with her former teacher. Yuu is still trying to discover the identity of his real father, and his tendency to keep things to himself threatens to derail his relationship with Miki forever. But with a manga filled with earnest and happy characters, there’s never any real doubt how the series will conclude.

The plot elements and character types in Marmalade Boy aren’t unexpected, but the emotional core of the story is very sweet. The occasional interjection of antic humor from Miki and Yuu’s parents helps to balance the drama and tears that accompany the ups and downs of teenage romance.

The art in Marmalade Boy is clean and crisp. Being immersed in 90s era manga art made me realize that many of the newer series that exhibit a reliance on tone are often too overdecorated for their own good, resulting in confusing flow between the panels. I never had to stop and wonder what was going on in Marmalade Boy, and the clear art made reading the manga a pleasure. Simplicity is sometimes hard to pull off well, and even though some of the plot elements in Marmalade Boy may be typical shoujo, the combination of humor, drama, and the genuine warmth of the characters’ relationships make this series a classic. Even though it is out of print, I encourage you to track this series down and read it.

On Grocery Shopping with Two Toddlers

No, you can’t push the mini-shopping cart. Can you help Mommy push the stoller? Put your hands on the stroller! Push Push Push!
Do you want strawberries? OK. No, Mommy will carry the strawberries.
Please don’t push your brother, push the stroller.
You can have some cookies. OK, we will get chocolate teddy bear cookies. No, not those cookies too.
Other cookie package crashes to the floor. I guess we’re getting those cookies.
Put your hands on the stroller, not on the shelf. Hands on the stroller. Hands on the stroller.
Where’s your yogurt? No, that’s not your yogurt. This is your yogurt.
Beer isn’t for babies.
That’s a nice color, but we don’t need limes.
Hands on the stoller. Thank you.
OK, we will buy bananas. Yes, you can eat a banana. No, we need to pay for the banana before you eat it.
You will be able to eat a banana in a minute.
Almost time to eat a banana. I swear, you will be able to eat a banana.
Get in the stroller, I will give you a banana.
Here is your banana!

Honey Hunt #2

Honey Hunt, Volume 2 by Miki Aihara

Honey Hunt continues to be the best kind of guilty pleasure. As Yura’s journey in show business begins, there are cringeworthy moments and plenty of emotional upheaval. Her first photo shoot starts out with the unthinkable – costume sabotage! Fortunately Yura is able to improvise an alternate outfit and the show goes on. Her co-star Haruka is distracted by the way she shifts from her normal unassuming personality into the character she’s portraying during the shoot. He is disturbed by her lack of talent and her budding relationship with his older brother Q-ta. Haruka informs Yura that she’s a boring schoolgirl and tells her to do her best to stay Q-ta’s favorite. She concludes that she doesn’t like him and he walks away mystified about why he cares about anything she does with Q-ta.

Q-ta’s away in London working, but he sends Yura a box of his CDs. Although Yura knows that part of the reason Q-ta is being so nice to her is due to his man-crush on her absent composer father, she’s still touched by his kindness. Yura’s lack of self-confidence is so crippling that even when Q-ta gave her his contact info, she hesitates to get in touch with him. Yura’s work on her TV show is derailed by a press conference where she’s asked about her famous parents. She thought she’d be able to make it on her own, but her manager Keiichi tipped off a reporter about her true identity. This prompts yet another episode of self-loathing for Yura, who assumes that she only got her job due to her connections in show business. Yura had thought that Keiichi believed in her talent and she runs away, not wanting to deal with her new notoriety.

I can see how Yura’s timidity and indecision might be a little annoying to some readers. But I think some of her annoying traits are true to character as a young woman from an incredibly sheltered background who is trying make it on her own. Plus, Aihara’s art is so good at detailing Yura’s emotions as she experiences the betrayal and backstabbing of show business, it is hard not to be sympathetic towards her. I was wondering when we’d see Yura’s father show up to make her life even more complicated. Her mother was such a bitch on wheels in the first volume, I do really hope that Yura manages to succeed on her own.

The three men in Yura’s life are still interesting. Q-ta treats her with kindness and compassion, but the casual way he decides to invade his brother’s apartment and rifle through his closet might point to a streak of selfishness in his personality. Yura nicknames Haruka “Mizutani the Younger” in her mind. Haruka doesn’t seem to have much of a filter on his mouth when he’s with Yura, and he’s always blurting out comments that hurt her feelings, and then feeling bad about himself afterwards. It could be that his feelings for her are deeper than Q-ta’s. Then there’s the manager Keiichi. Yura trusts him absolutely, but he’s vowed to sell her name whenever he can to maximize the amount of publicity she’ll get. He goes after Yura when she runs away, something that he’d never do for another client. I’m looking forward to reading volume 3 of this series.

Maid Sama Volume 2

Maid Sama! Volume 2 by Hiro Fujiwara

As this volume opens, Misaki is more self-conscious around Usui after learning that he likes her in the previous volume. He senses her disquiet and uses a lame excuse to kiss her male student vice-president. She decides that Usui is an incorrigible flirt and is relieved that she doesn’t have to take his feelings seriously. Misaki is still dedicated to protecting the students at her school and when she finds out that some of her classmates got into a fight with students at an academy for the rich and privileged she attempts to diffuse the situation.

Unfortunately she has to deal with Tora, the president at the uber snooty Miyabi Gaoka Academy. He reminded me of Takami from Ouran High School Host Club, if Takami was actually evil and malicious. Tora tries to get Misaki to transfer to his school, wooing her with a red carpet and rickshaw. But things take a turn for the worse when he finds out about Misaki’s part-time job in a maid cafe. When Misaki goes to turn down his transfer offer, he contrives to make her put on a skimpy maid outfit. Oh no!

Usui is a little too perfect. He manages to save Misaki multiple times in this volume using a set of extraordinary abilities. He plays chess like a grandmaster, is a serviceable short order cook, and wins sports day at their school. I’m expecting that by volume 3 he will have managed to reverse global warming and bring back the dodo. I hope that if Misaki gradually becomes more emotionally intelligent she’ll be able to need less rescuing. Although the dynamic between the leads is fairly typical, Misaki’s relentless and driven personality introduces a harder edge to what would otherwise be predictable shoujo situations. There’s plenty of comedy from the “idiot trio” of students who follow Misaki around, and she accidentally discovers her ideal environment at the maid cafe when she dresses as a man to serve female clients instead of the usual male patrons.

Maid Sama isn’t profound, but it does very well as a breezy summer read. This is one of the recent Tokyopop series that I really enjoy, along with Shinobi Life and Silver Diamond.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

August Previews

This is what I’m thinking of getting:

Viz

Lots of ongoing series from Viz:

Honey Hunt #3
Otomen #4
High School Debut #12
Nana #19
Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden #9

Tokyopop

Twelve Kingdoms Novel #3 – I should have added this to my series in limbo post, but I forgot. I was happy to see the paperback edition of volume 3 in this series solicited, it gives me hope that we’ll see the rest of the series someday. 12 Kingdoms is one of my favorite anime, so I’m eager to read the original novels.

Kyo Kara Maoh #4
Shinobi Life #3
Tsubasa: Those with Wings #3

CMX

Name of the Flower #3 – My current favorite series from CMX