Why Karakuri Odette?

January 16, 2011 by 3 Comments

I’m looking forward to this week’s Manga Moveable Feast on Karakuri Odette. Even though the Manga Moveable Feast has been around for some time, this is the first title I’ve felt like putting forward for hosting.

One of the reasons why I like this manga so much is it takes a premise that might seem tired and makes it refreshing and charming. Odette is an android who wants to learn how to be more human, so her professor/father enrolls her at the local high school. Odette keenly observes human behavior, and wants to become more like a “real girl” despite the limitations of her android body. While Odette’s super-strength sometimes comes in handy, having to recharge her battery can be decidedly inconvenient. Odette’s quirky mannerisms make her initially seem odd to her classmates, but she soon makes friends. Her most unlikely friend is the sometime juvenile delinquent Asao, who sometimes functions as an unlikely object of Odette’s innocent affections and gradually grows into acting as a form of conscience for Odette when she doesn’t understand the human behavioral norms she wants to embody. Odette’s adventures often manage to be both funny and poignant as she learns more about the nature of human friendship.

In the hands of a less talented artist, Karikuri Odette wouldn’t be nearly as charming. Suzuki has developed a funny type of android body language for Odette. In the early volumes she often is drawn slightly stiff or off-kilter, but still with fluid enough poses that it is still believable that the other kids in her high school would think that she’s human. As the series progresses, Odette’s facial expressions become more and more emotional. Even though she might not be human, I think she’s getting close to her goal. I’m looking forward to reading what everybody thinks about this great series.

I’ll post daily links to the other blogs that are writing about this great series, and keep an archive of all posts on the Karakuri Odette page. If I’ve missed your post in a roundup, please let me know by contacting me or sending me a message on twitter.

Some Graphic Novel and Manga Bargains

December 7, 2010 by 2 Comments

One of my favorite places to shop for steeply discounted manga is BookCloseOuts.com. For a long time they have mainly stocked older Tokyopop titles, but they’ve recently beefed up their selection of manhwa and manga.

There are many Yen Press titles stocked. One of my favorites is Goong, but you can often find many other titles. I think they recently started carrying First Second remainders, as there are a ton of graphic novels from that publisher now available. There are often scattered Del Rey Manga titles listed too, but it makes sense to search for those by series title, as they are often listed under the umbrella publisher Random House. Between all the manga and fiction titles, it won’t be too hard to hit the $35 required for free shipping. Just thought I’d pass it along in case you need to be thrifty about your holiday shopping.

Manga on Deck for December

December 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Here’s the stack of manga that has made its way into my house recently, a combination of my usual monthly DCBS order, early holiday presents and some review copies:

I’m always excited to see a volume of Vagabond I haven’t read yet. I had no idea that the 4th volume of 12 Kingdoms was so big! I’m glad that Tokyopop continues to translate this title so people who were fans of the anime can get an idea of what the non-truncated story is like. I’m looking forward to trashy shoujo in Papillon and talking bears in Biomega. I’m finally getting around to reading Batman and the Mad Monk, because I do enjoy Matt Wagner’s superhero work sometimes. I was so excited when I saw a copy of Julietta Suzuki’s Kamisama Kiss. I am probably going to read that and Papillon first, because I am suddenly in the mood for some shoujo.

Announcing the next Manga Moveable Feast: Karakuri Odette

December 6, 2010 by 6 Comments

I’m pleased to announce the next Manga Moveable Feast will be hosted here from January 16th-22nd. We’ll focus on Karakuri Odette, a great shoujo series about an android girl who wants to become more human.

I wanted to make this title the focus of my first time hosting the manga moveable feast because Julietta Suzuki elevates the android-girl genre, turning it into a series that is at times both sweet and philosophical. Suzuki’s a gifted cartoonist too, and the ways she subtly differentiates android Odette’s body language from her human friends is always a treat to see. Since it is well over a month away, you have plenty of time to add a volume or two of this series to your wishlists, or maybe pick it up with your holiday money. One of the nice things about this series is that it is fairly episodic, so even if you were to pick up one of the later volumes I think it would still be easy to enjoy the manga.

Here’s a sample first chapter on the Tokyopop site.
Here’s a sampling of reviews of the first volume from:
Comics Worth Reading
My old blog TangognaT
A Case Suitable for Treatment
About.com manga guide
And a bunch of review links on Manga Views.

Manga Moveable Feast: Stretchy Super Heroes

December 2, 2010 by 2 Comments

I’m working on writing up a review of the first couple volumes of One Piece for the Manga Moveable Feast, but I thought I’d take the time to talk about other characters in comics who have similar stretchy powers as One Piece’s enthusiastic protagonist Monkey D. Luffy. While Luffy gained his rubber powers by eating the fruit of the Gum Gum tree, there are plenty of examples of super heroes with magical stretchy abilities in western comics. Here’s a brief overview of some stretchy superheros.

Reed Richards aka Mr Fantastic:
The leader of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards gained his stretching abilities due to a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong. The funny thing about Reed Richard’s powers is that for someone with such goofy-looking powers, Reed is unquestionably a total stiff in terms of his personality. The contrast between his somewhat frivolous powers and his intellect make him an interesting leader of one of the classic super teams, even though he’d rather spend all of his time in a lab.

The Elongated Man

In an amusing coincidence, the Elongated Man’s powers are also fruit based. It seems like poor Ralph Dibney is always going to be a second-string character, because it doesn’t do much good to be a detective in the same universe as Batman. It also doesn’t seem to be all that wonderful to be super stretchy in a universe containing Plastic Man. He’s doomed to be second best and he and his wife seem to be mainly used as cannon fodder in DC crossover event comics.

Jimmy Olsen (Elastic Lad)

When Superman’s best friend travels forward in time to hang out with the Legion of Super-Heroes, he does so by taking on the abilities of Elastic Lad when he drinks a serum. Unfortunately his super powers do not enable him to make time with the Legion ladies very effectively. Jimmy’s transformation into Elastic Lad were part of a general pattern where he endured being changed into any number of strange creatures. If you’ve been transformed into a giant turtle boy, gorilla, or a radioactive dude having temporary elastic powers seems completely normal.

Plastic Man

Plastic Man is by far my favorite stretchy super hero, mainly because Jack Cole was an incredibly talented cartoonist who took full advantage of the idea of someone having elastic powers. Eel O’Brian was a thief who was splashed by a strange acid, gaining Most stretchy superheroes have some degree of invulnerability due to their malleable nature, but Plastic Man is able to transform himself into any shape imaginable while still retaining the distinctive red and yellow coloring of his costume. Plastic Man comics end up being delightfully surreal, but comics featuring other heroes with elastic powers often just focus on their stretchy limbs instead of taking full advantage of the possibilities of a person made of rubber.

Luffy seems to be partially invulnerable due to his rubber powers, but he mostly uses his elastic abilities to pack some powerful punches, just based on the first couple volumes. I’m curious to see how his elastic powers are used further into series.

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