Archives for December 2017

Yona of the Dawn, Vol 9

December 29, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Yona of the Dawn Volume 9 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Excellent manga continues to be excellent isn’t the most earth shattering reaction to the latest volume of Yona of the Dawn, but it is absolutely true. This latest episode swings between pathos and humor with the ease that I expect from Kusanagi. After meeting up with the Yellow Dragon, all of Yona’s guardians are assembled. What’s going to happen next? They wander into a village that Yun had adopted in the past only to find out that their food stores are low. Yona’s group immediately starts competeting to see who can deny that they are hungry the longest as they help to fix up the village, despite plenty of evidence of rumbling stomachs. Yona wants to see how the people are living as a manifestation of the poor choices her father made when he was king. The villagers are being preyed upon by a local gang of bandits, and Yona promptly proclaims that she’s the head of a rival gang called “The Dark Dragon and the Happy Hungry Bunch” in order to banish the bandits.

This is all pretty hilarious, especially the way the new gang starts threatening the villagers by forcing them to take extra portions of supplies and candy. But the local bandits once driven off come back in force, and things get serious. Sinha ends up confronting his terrible destructive power with Yona’s help. He’s drawn in shadow, with the focus on his eyes that allow his powers to manifest, seeming almost monstrous until Yona prevents him from using his powers in a way that he might later regret. As always with this series, while Yona has been training to build her capacity to fight, it is her insight into human nature and her genuine support of her companions that allow them to get through difficult moments.

This is such a pleasure to read, and I’m happy that Viz decided to all in on a multi-volume fantasy manga series. Seeing how the characters evolve in a series where there’s time for the mangaka to do slow and deliberate character development is extremely rewarding.

Children of the Whales, Vol. 1

December 20, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Children of the Whales Volume 1 by Abi Umeda

Dystopia manga can sometimes be a bit tricky. Some have great world building, some have intriguing characters, some have compelling story lines, but you don’t often get a manga that has the perfect ratio of those three elements. I very much liked the setting of Children of the Whales, but the character and story development fell a little flat to me in the first volume.

The Mud Whale is an floating island adrift on a sea of sand, and Chakuro serves as the archivist, chronicling the lives of the people. One class of people with magical powers called thymia tend to die young. The less gifted are long-lived elders who end up governing the Mud Whale. One thing I liked very much about this title was the art. The desolate sea of sand contrasts with the rounded towers of the Mud Whale, and the bleak horizon in the background serves to underscore the isolation of the characters. Aspects of the art reminded me a little bit of Nausicaa, particularly the lack of hard edges and the look of the eroded buildings. The setting is one of the most compelling things about Children of the Whales, however I think the story could have benefited from being a bit more slowly paced. There was a bit of a tendency to dump way too much background information in Chakuro’s internal narration, instead of letting the reader discover this world in a more organic fashion. Since so much of the manga is spent in Chakuro’s head, the other characters just don’t seem as developed, with their motivations not as thoroughly explored.

As can be expected in a story that centers on an isolated society, when outside influences come in, the world of the Mud Whale is tested in unusual and violent ways. This first volume was intriguing, but it didn’t totally make me invested in wanting to find out what would happen to the characters, which is a little disappointing because it ends on a shocking cliffhanger. There were enough aspects of Children of the Whales that I did like that I would give the second volume a try, just to see if things come together a little bit better once all the exposition is out of the way.

The Promised Neverland, Vol 1

December 12, 2017 by Leave a Comment

The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu

This series is one of more intriguing debuts that I’ve read from the Shonen Jump line in a long time. It is also a very difficult series to write about due to a pretty dramatic plot twist that happens around 40 pages into the manga, but I’m going to be deliberately vague and avoid spoilers.
The series opens with a semi-idyllic portrayal of life in an orphanage in what looks like a non-specific European country. Emma, Norman, and Ray are some of the oldest orphans, and each is gifted with some special talents. Emma is a tremendous athlete, Norman is incredibly smart, and Ray is a strategic thinker who is constantly honing his powers of observation. The orphans are cared for by a woman named Mom, who they all love as the only adult in their lives. As the first few pages unfold, small details in the art start to unsettle the reader. Why do all the orphans have numeric sequences tattooed on their necks? Why do they all have to dress in white? Why are they subjected to what looks like insanely detailed IQ tests in the morning, and then given the freedom to roam around the woods that surround the orphanage in the afternoon?

The orphans make a discovery that causes them to question the environment that they’ve been raised in, and their unique personalities and perspectives cause them to band together to start to assess their situation and develop a plan of action. While Emma is smart, one of the greatest things she brings to the team is moral clarity and a sense of urgency. The two boys are more cerebral, with Norman being more book smart, and Ray serving as a mastermind who is initially focused most on what is practical to accomplish. This volume focuses mainly on the orphans testing their assumptions and working together to figure out how The Promised Neverland doesn’t really live up to the fairy-tale aspects of the title. The art in the series features faces that are a but smushy, but very expressive of emotion. Emma’s hairstyle looks like a reference to Duck in Princess Tutu, so I found that amusing. The Promised Neverland is incredibly dark, but seeing how resourceful the orphans are brings an element of hope into play for the reader. The first volume of the series easily draws the reader into the sinister world the orphans are resisting. Extremely entertaining, and I’m already impatient for the next volume.

Idol Dreams, Vol. 4

December 3, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Idol Dreams Volume 4, by Arina Tanemura

I’m always up for any Arina Tanemura manga, but I do spend a great deal of time while I am reading Idol Dreams mentally preparing for disaster to strike, as the storyline of a hapless editor with no self confidence and few social skills reliving her teen years as an aspiring idol singer named Hikari with the help of magic pills just seems fraught with traumatic situations. This volume definitely went somewhat into the danger zone, as Chikage in her 15 year old persona decides to go out on at date with her fellow teen idol Ru. The volume opens with Chikage telling Tokita all about her teen romance plans, and he doesn’t point out the inherent problems of Chikage dating someone half her age very strongly, but he does ask the pointed question, “Are you going to tell him that you’re actually 31?” GOOD QUESTION TOKITA!

Chikage is nervous about her upcoming date and gets some tips from one of her coworkers. Quite frankly, as a reader, I was nervous about this date too as it seems like a horrible idea, but my anxiety was blunted somewhat when Ru decided to cross dress so his fans wouldn’t recognize him. Chikage and Ru go out, looking like a couple of girlfriends. Really, the only possible happy ending for this manga is for Chikage to not emotionally damage any of the teenagers she’s hanging out with, and gain enough confidence to actually become a functional adult. There are some slight signs of progress with her adult life in this volume, as she shows how adept she is at dealing with an editorial emergency at work.

As Chikage learns more about Ru, she realizes that she can’t continue to go out with him, but she chooses to break up with him in a particularly cruel way. Chikage’s lack of emotional intelligence is leaving plenty of distress in her wake, but I’m not sure if she realizes what she’s doing. I do miss Tanemura’s more teenage-centric manga, but I’m certainly curious about what will happen next in Idol Dreams.

Anonymous Noise, Vol. 5

December 1, 2017 by Leave a Comment

Anonymous Noise Volume 5 by Ryoko Fukuyama

I think Fukuyama should give other mangaka lessons on designing compelling covers. The cover for this volume of Anonymous Noise features a great image of Miou rocking out with her guitar. Speaking of Miou, in my mind, I think the best possible ending for this series would be for Nino and Miou to forswear all men, and run off to form an all girl supergroup. This being shoujo manga, I think the series is going to continue along with some conventional love triangles until everything is resolved.

I tend to prefer Anonymous Noise when it focuses more on the music than the romantic drama aspects of the story, so I was looking forward to this volume, where Nino and Yuzu’s band In No Hurry goes up against Momo and Miou’s Silent Black Kitty in a battle of the bands. At 5 volumes in, I’m still not finding the romance storylines in this series very compelling, as Nino is revered as a muse and pulled back and forth by her two childhood friends as though they are squabbling over a shiny toy. I did enjoy seeing Nino’s determination as she approaches practicing for her big concert, and there was a great scene of sassy comebacks as the rival bands unexpectedly find themselves on a radio show together, where they argue about who is the most angsty. I wish the series had a few more self-aware humorous bits like this.

Momo has an emotional confrontation with Nino right before she’s about to perform, which is an action I think is so overwhelmingly selfish, it causes me to not be very invested in the whole Nino/Momo romance that this series has built up over several volumes. Nino’s reaction to her emotional trauma is to take her fugue-like state while singing to the next level, and she responds with an incredible performance, even if she is emotionally out of control. The art is consistently super stylish, and I enjoy the dynamic performance scenes of Nino scream-singing. While I might not be very invested in the romance side of Anonymous Noise, it reliably brings the drama with every volume, and I do enjoy the series when the focus is centered more on the music that the characters all love.