Today’s Saturday morning cartoon is Cross Game. I love the manga, and the anime looks like it did a great job translating Adachi’s character designs and blend of drama and baseball action into animated format. I’ve only watched the first couple episodes so far on the Viz anime site.
Archives for January 2011
Dengeki Daisy Volume 3
January 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Dengeki Daisy Volume 3 by Kyousuke Motomi
Dengeki Daisy is one of those series that just keeps getting better with every volume. I put this volume down disappointed that I’m going to have to wait until April to read volume 4. The characters in Dengeki Daisi just seem to have both more depth than I expect, and Motomi’s slightly off-kilter approach to shoujo storytelling always ensures some surprising moments in this manga. One of the things that I find hilarious is the way Teru’s friends just casually accept the fact that she’s living with a older, supposedly lecherous high school janitor. As the volume opens she’s preparing to move in with her new friend Riko and she’s trying to come up with ideas for a parting gift for Kurosaki. She decides that she’ll cook a meal, but she has to ask Kurosaki to pick up the groceries because she’s so busy moving. I just love the interaction between Kurosaki and Teru. He orders her to restate her request as a servant and she says “Master, I would appreciate it if you bought the groceries…please” and flashes her belly button at him. He ends up cooking her farewell dinner and teasing her too much, so she starts crying. Kurosaki gives her a hug and the comforting words “You’re my servant, remember? I’m going to work you to the bone at school. And you can keep coming here to cook and clean for me.” She thinks “This is so cowardly…I won’t do this again. Putting the one I love on the spot with my tears and expecting him to do what I want.” Teru then leaves, in order to move into her new apartment right next door. The first chapter of this volume contained everything I like about Dengeki Daisy: character interaction, self-reflection, and a quirky twist.
I enjoyed spending more time with the main characters in Dengeki Daisy. I’m a big fan of shoujo heroes who look slightly dissolute, like Yoh from High School Debut with the horrible bags under his eyes. Kurosaki fits well with this character type, as he’s often snarling with a cigarette dangling from a corner of his mouth. He only seems to have unguarded expressions when Teru can’t see him, because he’s locked away the more protective and gentle side of himself into the personality of the mysterious person “Daisy” who Teru can only reach through her cell phone. As I was reading this volume I was wondering how much longer the secret of Daisy’s identity would last. Teru’s been on the verge of discovering that Daisy is Kurosaki so many times, it is hard not to wonder if her lack of knowledge might be a protective mechanism. For an orphaned girl who might possess a secret computer program her brother was killed for, she’s amazingly level headed even if she is subject to the normal amounts of moodiness any teenager would be expected to have.
Teru comes into her own in an unexpected way in this volume. Takeda comes after her, separating her from Kurosaki during an important cake shopping trip. Takeda tries to sneakily manipulate her into showing him her cell phone so he can search it for the mysterious software program her brother wrote, she sees right through him. Even though Takeda’s manipulations have caused her a ton of trouble, she ends up telling him that she wants to see him again the next time he wants to to go a cake shop. It is clear that Teru and Kurosaki have a deep emotional connection, but they aren’t ready for the push their relationship would get if it was revealed that Kurosaki is actually Daisy. Daisy functions as an emotional safety net, and if that communication mechanism were to vanish, Teru and Kurosaki’s emotions might be too difficult to handle. This volume tended to focus more on the emotional connections between the odd couple and less on the corporate espionage mystery that was featured more in the first couple volumes. At this point I’m happy to read whatever Motomi comes up with for the rest of the series.
The Secret Notes of Lady Kanako
January 13, 2011 by Leave a Comment
The Secret Notes of Lady Kanako by Ririko Tsujita Volume 1
This manga mash-up of Harriet the Spy and Mean Girls ends up being a great read due to a uniquely acerbic heroine and the unexpected friendships that she finds. It is obvious that The Secret Notes of Lady Kanako was originally intended to be a stand-alone short story that was expanded later on because the first chapter has a very self-contained conclusion. Kanako holds herself apart from her classmates because she’s entertained by the idea of being the perfect outside observer. Her notebook is full of detailed notes about the behavior and secrets of the kids that surround her even though they don’t really know she exists. The focus of her current research are the boys and girl that are the most popular students in the school. Haru is the most handsome boy in school, but his beauty is combined with a somewhat sadistic personality. The prettiest girl in school is Momoka, who is nursing a crush on Haru. Haru encourages her crush just because he wants to see Tota, the boy who is hopelessly in love with Momoka, squirm in agony. Kanako sits back and watches the drama unfold, but her notes are discovered and she soon finds herself growing closer to her observation subjects than she originally intended.
Kanako finds herself gradually won over by Momoka’s innocent gestures of friendship and her stoic response to bullying from the other girls in the class. Since Momoka won’t do anything to defend herself, Kanako decides to take over the PA system to announce that the bullying better stop or she’ll reveal everyone’s darkest secrets. Tota thinks Kanako’s direct way of speaking is cool and he begins to look up to her. Haru’s snarky personality and tendency to call Kanako out on her behavior makes him a great foil. Haru is tall, dark, and conventionally handsome while Kanako is drawn as a very short girl who is always peering over her glasses with a knowing smirk on her face. Haru comments to Kanako that she’s strong, and “It’d be more interesting if all the girls were like you.”
One aspect of this manga I was initially unsure of was the portrayal of female friendships. It is fairly typical for there to be plenty of backstabbing and bitchiness in shoujo manga, and it gets repetitive after awhile. I’m also a little tired of reading stories aimed at girls where the normal behavior of other females is constantly portrayed so negatively. But The Secret Notes of Lady Kanako manages to avoid getting trapped in cliche. Kanako prides herself on seeing through all facades. She transfers from school to school to maintain her prized outsider status and when she hears a someone comment on a nice girl, she thinks to herself “Sweet girls like her? You’re awfully gullible.” Kanako’s observational habits end up uncovering secrets at her new school, but instead of becoming an enemy of the two-faced girl that was the object of her studies they end up becoming unexpected allies, bonding over the fact that they both have twisted personalities. Kanako says that she observes because she doesn’t need friendships, but she usually ends up helping the people she watches. She doesn’t tolerate hypocrisy, and she celebrates the quirky behavior that other students find off-putting.
There’s an element of knowing cynicism in Kanako’s personality that is really refreshing for someone who’s been reading a lot of shoujo manga that features sweet but ditsy heroines. In many ways Kanako is the exact opposite of the typical shoujo heroine, but she does display a few moments of softness when encountering the first friends she’s made in school. Haru occasionally pops up in a chapter here and there to tease Kanako, and she returns to her first school at the end of the volume for the cultural festival. She finds out that while she prides herself on observation, her old friends were actually watching her and use their knowledge to try to do something special for her.
This manga isn’t perfect, as there are repetitive introductions at the start of every chapter and the episodic nature of the manga actually made me wish for more Haru/Kanako interaction. I was surprised to read in the author notes that this was Tsujita’s first volume of manga, because she managed to create such a compelling heroine on the first try. This series is only three volumes long, and is worth picking up if you’re looking for shoujo that manages to combine cynicism with sweetness.
Kamisama Kiss Giveaway
January 11, 2011 by 10 Comments
To celebrate the upcoming (Next week! Are you ready and excited to talk about android girls?) Manga Moveable Feast for Julietta Suzuki’s Karakuri Odette, I’m giving away a copy of the first volume of her latest series, Kamisama Kiss. Just leave a comment in this post answering the question:
How would you force your hot fox-spirit familiar to bend to your will?
Snorgles? Bungee cord? Making an excellent moussaka? Leave your comment and I’ll select a random winner, to be announced at the close of the MMF.
Biomega Volumes 2 and 3
January 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Biomega Volume 2 by Tsutomu Nihei
Biomega continues to be one of the most stylish action manga I’ve read. There might not be a whole lot of substance there, but the style is dialed up so high that I find myself not caring so much that Nihei’s vision of a dystopian future seems like it has been cobbled together from a variety of sources. Zoichi is determined to rescue the captured Eon Green. We get a little more background about Zoichi and his world in this volume – Zoichi seems to be a rogue synthetic human developed by Toa Heavy industries, and now we see that he isn’t the only person with those unique abilities as Nishu Mizunoe is shown to be pursing the talking bear Kozlov Grebnev. There’s plenty of zombie splattering action, but my favorite part of this book came relatively early when Nihei displays a spectacular example of manga physics.
Zoichi is on the run from a group of fighter planes. From his motorcycle, he shoots one down with his handgun. He dodges missiles on the highway, then jumps the motorcycle into the air while holding an axe. He then proceeds to pilot the plane, anchored by the axe, as he sends his always helpful computer program into the cockpit to take over the plane. Honestly, I was so happy with the handful of panels in that action sequence the rest of the book could have been a 188 page instruction booklet on mumblety-peg and I still would have found it a satisfying reading experience.
Biomega Volume 3 by Tsutomu Nihei
The third volume doesn’t feature an action sequence as iconic as riding on a plane with an axe, but there’s plenty of action as the synthetic humans from Towa Heavy Industries confront the Data Research Foundation and their plans for transforming the earth. There’s a synthetic compound that dramatically reacts with the infected zombie/drones, giving the DF foundation a chance to remake the earth and ensure their own immortality. There’s mecha fights, fleshy monsters, motorcycles with handy claw tools, and Zoichi finally manages to get to Eon Green.
Part of the reason why I like this manga so much is that it is the only seinen science fiction title I’m actively collecting. So it functions as a nice palate cleanser when I’ve read too much shoujo. I can certainly see why some people might find not very compelling due to the somewhat erratic nature of Nihei’s storytelling. Biomega sometimes seems like a pastiche of many similar manga and anime. I find though that the artwork in Biomega compensates for the storytelling. Nihei’s character designs are sometimes really unsettling, as many of the characters are hidden behind creepy-looking masks to prevent infection. The synthetic humans are the perfect action heroes, the sometimes display some unsettling powers as their bodies react to injuries or extrude biomechanical parts to make climbing up giant mecha that much easier. For all the non-stop action in Biomega, the most memorable images I found in the third volume were a few panels of Zoichi’s dream after he’s been poisoned. He’s standing in an alien landscape in outer space, looking out at the stars when a man with his skull half caved in comments that there are no humans left. Nihei is great at juxtaposing moments of stillness with his inventive action sequences, and that’s why I’m going to be looking for the next few volumes in this series.
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