Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector

Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector Volume 1 by Shin Mashiba (amazon)

There are plenty of manga that fit into the “spooky magical shop” genre like Time Guardian, Petshop of Horrors, and xxxHOLiC. Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector joins this group, as Hiruko is the proprietor of the Silver Star Tea House, a baku who eats dreams. His abilities as a nightmare inspector seem to be well-known, as his shop attracts a variety of clients. The entire volume is set up as a series of short episodes where people seek Hiruko’s help, he puts them to sleep with his magical cane, and he enters their nightmares in an attempt to give them some resolution. There’s usually a surreal, twilight zone like twist at the end of the stories, and many of the tales deal with death or lost love.
While the manga was satisfying as a book of short stories, I wish it spent a little more time on character development. Hiruko seems a bit of a cipher. He sometimes makes an extra effort to help his clients while pretending that his actions are solely in his own interest. Hiruko also enjoys nightmares with blood because they taste better. The dream sequences of his clients are inventive and surreal – a girl walks through a broken landscape picking up her lost body parts in a bid to regain lost memories, a boy envisions a shed where his father locked him up as a series of Chinese characters, and an ardent fan tries to connect with the actress he’s obsessed with through the film of a silver screen.
The art is exquisitely detailed, with fine lines and the extensive use of screentone serving to illustrate the historical background of the Taisho era when this manga is set. The short storylines and lovely art made this a nice refresher volume for me as I was working through my stack of long-running series manga. Although there are plenty of spooky shop manga series out there, the historical setting and the art makes Yumekui Kenbun Nightmare Inspector stand out.

Review copy provided by Viz.

Pearl Pink

Pearl Pink by by Tanaka Meca (amazon)

Kanji’s father runs a successful talent agency called Dog Run. Their cash cow is the actress Shinju Momono who stars in the TV show Idol P.I. Momoko. Shinju has a daughter named Tamako. 10 years ago, Kanji promised Tamako that he’d marry her if she stopped being a cry baby. In the present day, Kanji is returning home after being sent on an errand to pick up some magazines of a questionable nature for his father. He sees some junior high kids picking on a younger kid and is about to step in when the kid shifts into ninja mode and beats the bullies up. The kid recognizes Kanji, calling him Kan-San. Tamako is 13 years old now, and she’s turned herself into a self-reliant tomboy because she expects that is the way she’ll win Kanji’s love. Kanji barely remembers Tamako or his promise, but he humors the “monkey girl”. Tamako moves in with Kanji and his father, because they can’t allow the press to find out that Shinju had a daughter when she was a teenager.
Tamako is dismayed to find out that Kanji’s “wifely” skills are better than her own, as he excels at making box lunches and serves as a fashion consultant to his father, who seems to enjoy dressing up in potential outfits for his female idol in order to get Kanji’s expert reaction.
Although there’s a 3 year difference in age between Kanji and Tamako, she’s drawn to look much younger than 13. This has the potential for ickiness, but it is mostly sidestepped by Kanji’s continued insistence that Tamako’s goal of becoming his wife is ridiculous because she doesn’t really know who he is or what love is.
The art is clean and attractive, easily rendering moments of emotion as well as Tamako’s monkey-like physicality. There are some cute side stories that detail the plot of the Idol P.I. TV series. While I have to say that if you only read one manga of the idol factory genre, Skip Beat is probably the best option, Pearl Pink does have plenty of cute moments.

B.O.D.Y.

B.O.D.Y. by Ao Mimori (amazon)

Ryoko has a crush on Ryunosuke, the bespectacled boy she sits next to in class. He’s very reserved at school, so she assumes that he’s the quiet and studious type due to the fact that he always seems to be hauling around tons of stuff in his book bag. Her friends are nonplussed by Ryoko’s crush, pointing out that he could be stashing porn in his bag and she doesn’t really know anything about him. One day after school she observes him standing around with a couple of sleezy looking guys. Suddenly, a woman jumps out of a car and starts kissing him, and tries to force him into her car. Ryunosuke protests, so Ryoko runs up and grabs his arm, towing him away until they are clear of his companions.
When Ryoko asks him to explain what was going on, Ryunosuke reveals that he makes money after school by working as a host. Ryoko is shocked that the studious boy of her dreams is working that type of job. Ryu gives Ryoko his business card and tells her that he’ll give her a discount. She replies with a fierce uppercut to his jaw, vowing revenge.
Back at school the next day, Ryoko is tempted to reveal Ryu’s deception to the other students. She doesn’t, because she still has a soft spot for Ryu when he wears glasses to school. He thanks her for not revealing his secret, saying that he’s forced to work as a host because his Dad left, the mortgage on his house is high, and he has to take care of his little sister. Ryoko is immediately sympathetic, and Ryu starts laughing because she’s so gullible. Thus begins a love-hate relationship, as Ryu finds Ryoko amusing and announces that he likes her. She says she would never date a guy like him, so Ryu vows to win her heart.
The character designs for B.O.D.Y. are cute, with all the characters looking like adorable shaggy-haired moppets. The storyline is fairly typical, and I have to admit that at this point I have read far too many manga where two characters become closer because one of them comes down with a fever. Ryoko goes to take care of Ryu when he gets sick, and learns that he has nothing in his apartment other than a TV, video game system, and a stack of books. B.O.D.Y. fits in well with the rest of the Shojo Beat imprint, but it isn’t as strong as other recent series like High School Debut or Monkey High. Still, I was amused by Ryu’s facility at lying and Ryoko’s propensity for physical violence, so I’ll probably check out the second volume of this series to see if the storyline becomes more interesting.

Review copy provided by Viz.

Gun Blaze West

Gun Blaze West , Vol. 1 by Nobuhiro Watsuki (amazon)

I probably have a bit of a soft spot for shonen properties by Watsuki, because Rurouni Kenshin was one of the series that got be back into manga and anime after a long hiatus. Kenshin had a near perfect blend of adventure, romance, drama, humor and many many fight scenes. While the first volume of Gun Blaze West might not reach the heights of Kenshin, I found it extremely entertaining.
Nine year old Viu Bannes has grown up in the mountainous state of Illinois, not very far from some canyons and river gorges. As someone who was born in Illinois I can only wish that it had such rugged scenery in reality. Viu lives with his older sister Cissy, the schoolteacher for the town of Winston. Viu is pretty much the stereotypical shonen hero. He throws himself into an arm wrestling match far above his age bracket, and wins a gun belt. He’s determined to become a gunslinger and head west.
When Viu captures “Underdog Marcus”, a broken down gunman who tried to steal some food, he ends up finding a friend who encourages him to train to achieve the goal of reaching “Gun Blaze West”, a mythical land that exists past the frontier. Viu and Marcus attempt to fight off an evil gang of bandits and Marcus dies, bequeathing his gun and partial map to “Gun Blaze West” to Viu.
One of the things I really enjoy about Watsuki’s manga is the strength of his character designs. The villians all look appropriately grotesque, but all the characters have distinctive looks including the townspeople fleeing in the background. There are a few fart jokes and pratfalls thrown in to break up the action and training scenes.
Several years later Viu is 14 years old. He completes his training and starts on his journey, heading towards St. Louis. Is Viu going to assemble a group of intrepid fellow travelers? Will the travelers all have specialized ways of fighting? Will there be many dramatic gun battles? Is there really any reason to ask these questions? The first volume of this story is really an extended origin tale, I expect Viu’s quest will begin to gel after the second volume. Gun Blaze West is shonen manga at its most shoneniest. Sometimes after reading so much love and angst filled shoujo manga, all I really want as a refresher is a series like this where someone will clench their fists and exclaim, “When you absolutely have to fight, fight absolutely!”

Review copy provided by Viz

Books Read, March 2008

Books

Down the Rabbit Hole by Peter Abrahams – Very readable mystery story, probably best for the pre-YA reader.
Lulu Dark Can See Through Walls by Bennett Madison – YA mystery involving mistaken identity, a missing handbag, and romance.
The Fall of the Kings by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman – I thought I hadn’t read this book before, but there were several scenes that seemed vaguely familiar. So I think I read it close to the time when it first came out, and totally forgot about it.
Lord of the Fading Lands and Lady of Light and Shadows by C.L. Wilson – Totally cheesy fantasy romance novels. What can I say, my brain really is not capable on focusing on complex literature at the moment.

Kids Books
Swinging for the Fences and The Lonesome Puppy


Manga and Graphic Novels

Night of the Beasts #6
Tramps Like Us #14
Basara #26
Boys Over Flowers #29
Fushigi Yugi Genbu Kaiden #6
Tail of the Moon #9
Hana Kimi #22
Kitchen Princess #4
Crossroad #3
Suppli #2
SOS
Apothecarius Argentum #2, 3
Good Witch of the West #4
Life Sucks
Yozakura Quartet
Kaput and Zosky

Life Sucks

Life Sucks by Jessica Abel, Gabriel Soria, and Warren Pleece 4/5 stars (amazon)

Vampire Clerks. I figure most reviews of this graphic novel are going to use this phrase, so I thought I’d get it out of the way as soon as possible. Dave Miller works the night shift at the Last Stop convenience store. He wakes up every day at 6:30 pm, staggers past his roommate, chugs some V8, watches Spanish language soap operas, and rides his bike to work. Once he gets to work, he has to rotate the hot dogs, deal with an insane customer who dislikes beef jerky, and take a phone call from his boss, “Lord Arisztidescu.” The high point of Dave’s night is watching “The Running of the Goths”, as closing time at the nearby juice bar prompts a long line of wannabe vampires to pass by the store. Dave is occasionally joined by a fellow wage slave named Jerome. Dave and Jerome are fledgling vampires, bitten by their Romanian vampire masters in order to ensure that they have obedient night managers working at their businesses. Dave has a huge crush on Rosa, one of the goths that passes by his store.
As a vampire, Dave is a failure since he refuses to drink human blood. Dave is foiled in his romantic ambitions by one of Rosa’s fellow goths and by the former night manager at the Last Stop, a vampire surfer named Wes. Life Sucks ends up exploring the old story – will the nice guy finish last? There are plenty of details that help bring this world of vampires working in dead-end jobs to life – Dave’s roommate is always shown eating cereal on the couch, the vampire masters get together for a poker game, and some of the convenience foods in the Last Stop are formulated for the undead. The ending of the book left me feeling a little ambivalent. I’m not sure if I was hoping for more of a traditional happy ending where the nice guy got rewarded, but maybe the point is that there’s little satisfaction to be found in a minimum wage job even if you’ve been gifted with immortal life. Life Sucks is definitely worth checking out if you enjoy off-kilter vampire fiction.

Review copy provided by First Second