5th anniversary manga giveaway

I’m coming up on my 5th (!) year of blogging, so I’m going to give away some manga to a lucky reader. In the past I’ve offered up chances to win individual volumes of manga, but I don’t have the time to do that now. So this year, I’m giving away a sample pack of manga first volumes for the following series:

Orfina
Vagabond
Le Chevalier D’Eon
KageTora
Time Guardian
Dragon Knights
I Hate You More Than Anyone
Sensual Phrase
10, 20, and 30

If you want to win these volumes, leave a comment on this post. Be sure to fill out the e-mail field in the comment form so I’ll be able to contact you if you win! I’ll select a random winner. Giveaway closes March 22, 2008.

The giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered!

Kaput and Zosky

Kaput and Zosky by Lewis Trondheim 5/5 stars (amazon)

Kaput and Zosky is a thoroughly delightful comic book for young people about inept space invaders. Kaput and Zosky travel from planet to planet looking for a world to rule but they never seem to manage to pull it off. They land on a planet where the inhabitants immediately capitulate, run into issues with another planet’s potato-like populace, accidentally take over a world due to gambling and investments, and fail in an attempt to rule through democracy. Each time, the duo’s plans for mayhem and domination are spoiled, so they set out for new worlds to conquer.
Kaput is short and squat, with a wide mouth full of sharp teeth. He’s determined to cause as much mayhem as possible, saying things about like “Let’s be charitable and share our knowledge. We’ll teach them the meaning of pain and fear!” Zosky is taller, with expressive yellow antennae. He tends to be a little more moderate and logical in his quest for absolute power; “Phase 1: Analyze the ground situation. Phase 2: Devise a plan of action. Phase 3: Seize Power!!!!”
The art is expressive and whimsical, with a variety of cool looking aliens and monsters that Kaput and Zosky are never able to enslave no matter how hard they try. There’s an excerpt of Kaput and Zosky available on the First Second web site, so you can preview the book. I’m not sure that very young children will be able to fully comprehend the finer points of a parody of democracy or the trouble with arms races, but parents reading the book with their children will appreciate these plot elements. I’m definitely looking forward to sharing this book with my sons when they’re older, because I think every child should have a book that contains vocabulary building words like destruction, ruination, and planetary domination.


Review copy provided by First Second

New Manga from Viz

Viz has a bunch of manga coming out soon, here’s what I think looks most interesting from the press release:

CAT EYED BOY • Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $24.99 •Available June
17, 2008
Cat Eyed Boy is a half-human, half-monster child whose mostly human
appearance bans him from the demon world. He lives hidden in the shadows
of the human world, hated by humans and demons alike. Wherever he goes,
awful events occur as the humans and demons interact. In 11 stories of
revenge and retribution full of disturbing images, Cat Eyed Boy acts as
a trickster, saving the innocent and helping the wicked receive the
punishment that fate metes out. The first volume contains four stories
and the first part of a fifth and longer story. CAT EYED BOY was created
by Kazuo Umezu, the undisputed master of Japanese horror manga and
creator of the critically acclaimed DRIFTING CLASSROOM (also published
by VIZ Media). Cat Eyed Boy offers up a concoction of dark vignettes
dripping with the macabre and the absurd.

GUN BLAZE WEST • Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $7.99 • Available
April 1, 2008
A brand new addition to the SHONEN JUMP imprint from Nobuhiro Watsuki,
the creator of the successful samurai manga series RUROUNI KENSHIN and
BUSO RENKIN (both published domestically by VIZ Media), GUN BLAZE WEST
puts a new twist on the genre as it is set in 19th century America.
Legend has it that in the far West lies a sacred land called Gun Blaze
West, where only the strong can set foot. Viu Bannes, a cheerful and
persistent boy, aspires to become a great gunslinger and yearns to
travel to the West and test his strength. He befriends a vagabond,
Marcus Homer, and they both decide to set off on a journey to find Gun
Blaze West. The new title is VIZ Media’s first Western/Wild West series
and will also be previewed in SHONEN JUMP magazine. Nobuhiro Watsuki’s
critically acclaimed previous series RUROUNI KENSHIN is a fan favorite
that has sold more than 1.1 million copies in North America and his BUSO
RENKIN series likewise enjoys a wide and growing following.

NIGHTMARE INSPECTOR: YUMEKUI KENBUN • Rated “T” for Teens • MSRP: $9.99
• Available April 8, 2008
For those who suffer nightmares, help awaits at the Silver Star Tea
House, where patrons can order much more than just Darjeeling. Hiruko is
a special kind of private investigator, he’s a dream eater, and he’ll
rid you of your darkest vision – for a price. Each chapter of NIGHMARE
INSPECTOR is a self-contained story that offers a glimpse of mankind’s
folly and gradually reveals a little more about Hiruko and his dark
past. A highly anticipated new series with a gothic edge, NIGHTMARE
INSPECTOR was published in Japan by Square Enix, the publisher of the
first manga series from Shin Mashiba. Fan-buzz has abounded on this
series and comparisons have been made to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman and DC’s
classic House of Mystery/House of Secrets.

B.O.D.Y. • Rated “T+” for Older Teens • MSRP: $9.99 • Available April 8,
2008
Everyone thinks 16-year-old Sakura has weird taste in guys because she
can’t stop drooling over Ryunosuke, the strong silent type who sits next
to her in class. When she discovers he works for a host club, where
women actually pay men to date them, will she finally wise up? Will he
leave his job to be with her? Or will she take a job at the club so he
can quit so she can be with him so…? Only one thing’s for sure in
B.O.D.Y. – you can’t put a price on love! B.O.D.Y. originally appeared
in the Japanese shojo monthly Bessatsu Margaret was created by Ao
Mimori. It is her third shojo manga series and is also currently
serialized in SHOJO BEAT magazine.

Crossroad Volume 3

Crossroad Volume 3 (amazon)

This was a good reminder of why it is sometimes best to follow the “2 volume rule” when evaluating a manga series. I liked the first volume of Crossroad well enough, but I thought that the second volume was much funnier, and the third volume sets up some interesting complications in the romantic lives of its characters. Kaijitsu embarks on a romance with her charmingly misanthropic substitute calligraphy teacher Akai, knowing she’s only using the situation to escape from her feelings for her adopted stepbrother Natsu. And Akai knows that aijitsu is really in love with Natsu, but he takes her out on a date anyway, and promptly quits smoking when she tells him that she doesn’t like it.
Kaijitsu is jealous of all the attention Natsu is getting from the other girls in school, and Natsu is jealous when he finds out that Kaijitsu has gone out on a date. In the midst of all the drama, Kaijitsu’s friend Tokihito aka “The Feudal Lord,” is rethinking his feelings for both Kaijitsu and her closest female friend Mano. Where Crossroad excels is the way it captures all the nuances of friendship between the characters. Mano is reminded about what a survivor Kaijitsu is when Kaijitsu runs away from home and promptly ingratiates herself with Mano’s mother. Kaijitsu tries a flying leap to prevent Natsu from running away from her. Kaijitsu’s talks with Akai are unconventional – perhaps because she thinks he’s only going to be a temporary presence in her life, she feels free to be open and honest with him about her feelings. Natsu negotiates Kaijitsu’s outpouring of affections, and they decide to try to stay siblings for the time being. This volume of Crossroad had a bunch of back-up pages featuring Taro and Satsuki, the other members of Kaihitsu’s unconventional family.

Dokebi Bride

Dokebi Bride Volumes 1-4 by Marley (amazon)

Sunbi Shin’s mother is dead and she lives with her grandmother in a small village. Her grandmother is the village shaman, able to see spirits and demons called dokebis. Sunbi has inherited some of her grandmother’s powers, but her grandmother doesn’t want her to become a shaman. When Sunbi’s grandmother dies, she has to go to live in the city with her estranged father, stepmother, and stepsister. Sunbi is sullen, keeping to herself among her new classmates and avoiding interaction with her new family. Unfortunately Sunbi’s strong emotions only serve to draw demons towards her.
The stories where Sunbi interacts with traditional spirits are very interesting. I had no idea that there were spirits in charge of the well being of the bathroom, in addition to kitchen spirits. Since Sunbi was never formally trained by her grandmother, she has to figure out how to deal with demons and curses on her own, aided by some inherited shaman equipment. She makes a deal with a dokebi she names Gwangsoo, and her bargain may have some unforeseen consequences in the future. As Sunbi gets used to life in the city, she gradually starts to encounter people who may help her master her powers – a classmate, a monk, and a professor at a nearby university.
I had a couple quibbles with this manhwa. The dokebis in the book look very creepy and are intricately drawn, but the facial expressions of the human characters sometimes look mask-like. Also, a few times per book characters will go into lecture mode, where they will rattle off long unbroken paragraphs about a topic like spirit photography or psychic abilities. I usually found myself skimming over these pages, waiting to catch up to the next episode where Sunbi has to cope with a demon.

Books Read, Febuary 2007

Books

Rouge Male by Geoffrey Household – I did not realize that a book about a man hiding in a hole in the ground would be so suspenseful.
Seduction of the Crimson Rose by Lauren Willig – There was not as much swashbuckling in this book as I was used to from the previous volumes in this series.
A Girl’s Guide to Vampires by Katie Macalister – This was a very cheesy but funny romance novel.

Manga and Graphic Novels

Love Com #3, 4 – I continue to read this in the bookstore, because I don’t want to get sucked in to buying a long, currently running series. But it really is one of the better shojo series currently coming out.
Be With You
La Cordo D’Oro #1 – Comics like this based on dating sims seem to have slightly more cliched characters than usual. I did like the music school setting though.
My Heavenly Hockey Club #2
Doom Patrol: Crawling from the Wreckage
Nana #8
Aria #1
Legion of Superhero Archives 3 & 4
Tenshi Ja Nai #1
Dokebi Bride #1-3
Canon #4
Yurara #3
Sand Chronicles #1
Penguin Revolution #5
Walkin Butterfly #2
Variante #1
Orfina #1

Aria

Aria by Kozue Amano (amazon)

I pre-ordered Aria because there seemed to be a certain amount of excitement when Tokyopop picked up the series – it had previously been licensed by ADV. In 2301 Mars has been transformed into Neo-Venezia. Young women called Undines take on the role of gondoliers, showing tourists around the watery city. Akari is a journeyman, training to become an Undine. while she works for the Aria company. Akari looks up to her senior at Aria, an Undine named Alicia. Aika is a fellow journeyman and Akari’s best friend. The girls meander around the canals of Neo-Venezia, showing tourists around, taking part in a gondola race, and visiting an island.
Plot and character development aren’t really the main focus of this manga. The art is full of painstakingly detailed backgrounds and the costumes of the gondola girls seem designed to inspire plenty of cosplay. For all of the focus on the sights of a recreated future Venice, the most visually arresting sequence of Aria occurs when Akari and Alicia visit an island that recreates a Japanese village and encounter a traditional fox spirit.
Aria is pretty, but it isn’t very substantial. It is the manga equivalent of cotton candy; colorful, sweet, and insubstantial. It does let you drop in on another world and admire the scenery, so if attractive art is a major consideration for you when you purchase manga, you might want to give it a try.

Yurara Volume 3

Yurara Volume 3 by Chika Shiomi 4/5 stars (amazon)

I’ve been reading all three of Shiomi’s series that are available in English; Canon, Night of the Beasts, and Yurara. I somehow missed volume 3 of Canon, and I was disappointed when I picked up volume 4 of that series to find that it was devoted to a rather incoherent climatic battle between warring vampire clans. I haven’t picked up the final volume of Night of the Beasts yet, but I’m glad I have a few more volumes of Yurara to look forward to.
In the third book, the love triangle between spirit hunters Yurara, Mei, and Yako is more explicit, as Mei has proclaimed his love for Yurara (and many of the other girls in their class) while it is clear that Yako is in love with Yurara’s “older sister” – her spirit guardian. Yurara starts to come into her own, controlling her possession by her guardian spirit, and exercising more will over her spirit vanquishing powers. There’s also a new element of comic relief – the wacky grandpa. While wacky grandpa characters are very common in manga and anime, I thought the spirit of Yurara’s grandfather was particularly amusing as he comes back from the dead to check on his granddaughter, sees that she’s hanging out with cute guys, and promptly changes over to a younger version of himself with horrible fashion sense in order to fit in with the high school students who can’t even see him. Yurara is much more light-hearted than Canon or Night of the Beasts, and it is a very enjoyable example of the people who can see dead people shojo genre.

Laika and Robot Dreams

A couple of the books that I most enjoyed reading because of the Cybils were Laika and Robot Dreams.

Laika by Nick Abadzis 5/5 stars (amazon)

Laika combines fact and fiction in a retelling of the story of the first dog in space. I didn’t really know a whole lot about the historical background of Laika’s flight, I enjoyed reading her story, which was told from the point of view of multiple characters. We see a little bit of Laika’s early life on the streets of Moscow. Other featured characters include the engineer Korolev who is incredibly ambitious after his experience as a political prisoner, the dog trainer Yelena, and a little girl who wasn’t able to keep Laika as a pet.
Even though I knew what was going to happen, I still got a little teary-eyed at the end of the book. The details about the unforeseen political issues that occurred after Laika’s flight were also very interesting. The thick black lines of the art serve to emphasize the anxiety and emotions of Laika’s caretakers. Laika is a must-have book for most school libraries, as it would fit in well with history curriculum since it so capably dramatizes the human elements of the early space race. Also, it has a bibliography! As a librarian, I do find bibliographies in graphic novels quite thrilling.

Robot Dreams 4/5 stars (amazon)

I usually steer clear of wordless graphic novels. There isn’t really a valid reason for my doing so, I just tend to like text. So it was interesting that this year’s Cybils had two wordless nominations, The Arrival and Robot Dreams. In Robot Dreams, a dog assembles a robot from a mail order kit. They become friends, bonding over classic Hayao Miyazaki movies and making popcorn. When Dog takes Robot to the beach, Robot becomes rusty and can’t budge. Dog reluctantly abandons his new friend, when he comes back to attempt to repair him, the beach is closed.
Robot Dreams splits into parallel stories, as Robot dreams of all the adventures he can’t have. The dreams have vivid imagery; Robot hitches a ride on a bird only to fall asleep being embraced by a cloud, he digs his way up to the top of a mountain, and encounters a friend in his dream in the shape of a flower. Dog meets new people, but they don’t seem to be able to replace his lost Robot pal. The art is simple and engaging, portraying a variety of creatures going about their day to day tasks. Robot Dreams is a great story of friendship lost and found. And it has robots in it, so you know it has to be cool 🙂

Review copies were provided by the publisher.