The Gods Lie

December 17, 2016 by Leave a Comment

The Gods Lie by Kaori Ozaki

I waited a long time to read one of my favorite manga of the year. I bought The Gods Lie shortly after it came out, but it has been sitting on my to-read pile for months. This is a coming of age story showing the developing relationship between Natsuru, a soccer prodigy, and Rio, a girl who stands out at school for being overly tall and silent. When the story opens, it first seems like a slice of life manga, but soon the reader sees that death overshadows the lives of the characters. Natsuru lives alone with his quirky writer mom, because his father died recently. His grandfatherly soccer coach is in the hospital with cancer, and while the replacement coach actually knows how to play soccer, Natsuru doesn’t react well to his new coaching methods.

Natsuru and Rio develop a friendship when he rescues a kitten his mom is allergic to. She offers to take care of it if he’ll help pay for the cat. It is clear that Rio has a stronger sense of household budgeting than is normal for a 6th grader. Her younger brother Yuuta just sails through life cheerfully, seemingly unaffected by their run-down house and need to economize on everything. When Natsuru visits their home, Rio tells him that her father is fishing in Alaska, but will be back in time for the spring festival. Natsuru decides to secretly ditch soccer camp and stays with his new friend over the summer. As the story develops, it is clear that Rio is guarding a secret that she can’t share with her new friend.

There’s a sense of clarity and assurance in Ozaki’s art, it is expressive without being bogged down by too many details. She perfectly portrays the stuck-up and clueless attitude of the class princess, the disrepair of Rio’s house, and the freedom of unstructured summer days. It is a rare manga that is perfect in one volume but The Gods Lie has the feeling of a great short story, capturing a range of experience for the characters in just a few pages, and hinting at what they’ll become as they grow up.

Haikyu!! Vol 5 and Kuroko’s Basketball 3 and 4

December 13, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Haikyu!! Volume 5 by Haruichi Furudate

I still feel like pinching myself a little bit to remind myself that it is actually real that so much great sports manga is coming out now! I’m trying to get caught up with my manga reading after a very hectic few months at work, and there’s something very relaxing about retreating to a world where everyone’s biggest concern is sports tournaments.

One of the reasons why I like Haikyu!! so much is that the focus shifts around with every volume, so while the odd rookie couple Hinata and Kageyama are certainly progressing with each volume, the emotional core of the story changes to focus on different team members. As Karasuno heads towards a tournament with the weight of their past reputation still following them around, it becomes an opportunity for redemption. Karasuno can be recognized as a legitimate opponent again. One important theme stressed in tournament play is the need to focus on one game at a time. While the bracket facing the team is challenging, they take on their first opponent with a serious sense of purpose. The experience of the boys’ team is contrasted with the girls volleyball team, who falls to their first opponent. Furudate takes a beat to acknowledge how athletes feel when they are knocked out of a season unexpectedly early, without the opportunity to play their sport anymore.

Karasuno faces the “Iron Wall” of Date Technical High school, and here we see how Hinata’s jumping abilities and athleticism have turned him into a great decoy on the court. With the opposing team distracted by his unexpected athletic brilliance, it slowly builds into an opening for Asahi. Some of the more striking panels in the manga show Hinata in the spotlight with Asahi in the background growing more and more intense, until he’s able to prove his abilities as an ace again. Karasuno has shown all the pieces of their team though, and they won’t be able to take advantage of the element of surprise again. Haikyu!! continues to be incredibly gripping and fun.

Kuroko’s Basketball Volumes 3 and 4 by Tadatoshi Fujimaki

In contrast, while Kuroko’s Basketball sometimes feels more like a traditional shonen battle manga transported to the basketball court, with a little less focus on the emotional story associated with sports and a bit more emphasis on defeating opponents who have honed their skills at basketball in order to develop sports superpowers.

Kuroko’s invisibility continues to be an asset to Seiren High, and no surprise they are in a tournament too! They have the tough draw of having to fight two opponents in the same day. First up is Seiho, who have an intimidating center, and a brash player who starts running off his mouth about Kagami being the only good player on the Seiren team. Seiho’s team is difficult to read and defend against, because all their movements are informed by martial arts practices instead of ordinary basketball. Gradually Seiren comes up with unexpected plays that wear the other team down.

The next team contains the best shooter of Kuroko’s old team, “the Miracle Generation”. Midorima’s superstitions are funny, but his insane ability to never miss with a basketball makes him seem more like an overpowered fighting manga villain than a high school basketball player. The shots he makes are so improbable, I was worried about Seiren’s ability to come up with a strategy to defeat him. Along the way Kuroko and Kagami have some interpersonal conflict yet again as Kagami decides that he has to win the game all by himself, which is in direct opposition to Kuroko’s team-driven approach. While there’s a little bit of character development, most of these two volumes was devoted to non-stop dynamic basketball action. I appreciate the omnibus release for this manga, since the story isn’t quite as gripping as Haikyu!! for me, I’d rather read it in larger chunks. This is still an enjoyable manga, even though I don’t think it will reach the iconic status of Slam Dunk.

Ten Count, Vols. 1 and 2

December 1, 2016 by 2 Comments

Ten Count Volumes 1 and 2 by Rihito Takarai

Ten Count is a yaoi series that caused me to wonder greatly about psychiatric ethics. Shirotani is an executive assistant who functions well in his job despite having an almost debilitating case of obsessive compulsive disorder. He has to wear gloves to hide his injuries from frequent hand washing and he has elaborate systems and rituals in place in order to make him feel safe. His condition also affects his relationships with other people, as he has an aversion to being touched.

One day Shirotani’s boss gets saved from an accident by a random bystander, who turns out to be Kurose, a therapist. Kurose recognizes Shirotani’s symptoms and goes out of his way to cultivate his acquaintance. Kurose’s mannerisms are brusque and not very emotional, but Shirotani seems to be drawn to him anyway. Kurose proposes that Shirotani gradually build up a tolerance to the situations that trigger his OCD by making a list of ten things he finds difficult or impossible to do, ranging from things like touching a door handle bare handed to eating with another person. Kurose says that this isn’t therapy, just two friends trading tips.

The relationship begins to grow, and Shirotani becomes increasingly dependant on Kurose, but Kurose abruptly cuts things off, only to leave Shirotani confused and upset. For someone who is supposed to be an expert in human behavior, Kurose seems a bit odd himself in how he conducts himself with this new friendship.

The first volume doesn’t need the explicit content warning on the front, but the second definitely does! I’m not terribly fond of relationships in yaoi manga where one person is entirely dominant and the other is set up in a more submissive role. In this case Kurose seemed to keep pushing Shirotani out of his comfort zone, and while it might end up that Shirotani becomes a more functional human being as a result of this, there were some dynamics to the relationship that I didn’t really enjoy reading. I think though that this is likely to be an enjoyable manga for most yaoi fans.

Platinum End Vol. 1

November 20, 2016 by Leave a Comment

Platinum End Volume 1 by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata

I approached reading Platinum End with mixed feelings, I was interested because this series is another work from the team that brought the world Death Note, and I greatly enjoyed Death Note. On the other hand, I wasn’t looking forward Death Note 2: Electric Boogaloo. I ended up putting down the first volume feeling like I was cautiously interested in seeing where Platinum End was going.

The volume opens with Mirai Kagehashi, a high school student who has decided to kill himself. He’s foiled in his attempt by the sudden appearance of an angel who rescues him. Mirai is stuck in despair because he was orphaned when he was young, and taken in by relatives who abused him. His new angel announces that she’s going to make him happy and gives him some new abilities – he can choose between having wings to fly anywhere or mystical red arrows that will cause anyone to fall in love with him. Mirai responds that he’ll ponder what he wants if he’s given both gifts and the angel agrees.

Mirai’s angel Nasse functions more like the devil on his shoulder than a good conscience, as she encourages him to use his powers for the most selfish of reasons. Mirai gets a sense of how deadly the ability to make anyone fall in love with him can be, when he returns to his aunt and uncle and learns the truth behind the death of his parents. In true shonen fashion it turns out that Mirai is caught up in a cosmic game, where God has decided that he’s going to elevate a human to become the next God. 13 angels have been assigned to 13 chosen humans, and the last one left gets to be in charge of the universe.

Mirai says that he would be just content with normal happiness, but Nasse keeps pushing him to use his angel-given superpowers to manipulate and murder his way to having money and happiness. In a way, Platinum End seems more like a horror title than anything else, as Mirai wakes up from nightmares with horrific visions. The other contestants for godhood aren’t using their powers for good either, as one of them decides to disguise himself as a superhero and pick off his opponents one by one, killing a comedian who decides to use the love arrows to assault a group of women.

Platinum End is rated mature and aside from that, one could develop a drinking game centered on the number of panels where Nasse’s disembodied butt is hanging in the air randomly in many panels. The art from Obata is good as always. Overall, this was an interesting manga to read, but not very pleasant. It seems like Platinum End is going to be even darker in tone than Death Note, and that series was pretty dark. At the same time, seeing if Mirai’s inherent sense of morality is going to hold up to the temptation of godlike power is an interesting story to explore, even though it is thematically a bit too close to Death Note. I put this volume down feeling a bit cautious about this series. I’ll be curious to see if in the next couple volumes Platinum End develops into a manga that I’m looking forward to reading. If not, there’s always Death Note!

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Everyone’s Getting Married Vol. 3

November 15, 2016 by 1 Comment

Everyone’s Getting Married, Volume 3 by Izumi Miyazono

Is everyone getting married? I see no evidence of it yet in this series where aspiring housewife Asuka and committed bachelor Ryu continue to fall in love with each other despite their utterly incompatible life goals. This manga manages to balance the twists and turns of a soap opera with some very touching moments as Ryu and Asuka continue to struggle with their feelings for each other, balance their demanding work schedules, and navigate their possibly doomed relationship.

One of the things I like about this series is how little it relies on conflict due to people not talking to each other. Sure it happens sometimes, but not talking about a problem isn’t stretched over multiple volumes as sometimes happens in romance manga. Even when some standard plot elements pop up in the form of Ryu’s Complicated Ex-Girlfriend and Asuka’s Flirty Co-Worker, this continues to lead the couple to reflect on their relationship.

Two events happen in fairly short succession that cause some strain. Yuko, a married actress who Ryu had a long-term affair with years ago is back in town. She’s touched by scandal due to her philandering husband, and Ryu is maneuvered by combative questions from the press into joking on tv that he’d dump his girlfriend for a chance to date her. In addition, Asuka gets news of a upcoming work transfer and is spending time with Kamiya, a colleague. They’re walking down the street together and they agree to do a “couple interview” as a joke, only Asuka is shocked when she sees that Ryu is interviewing her.

These additional people popping up near Asuka and Ryu cause them to confront some of the issues in their relationship. Asuka wonders if Yuko is the reason why Ryu is so set against marriage. Ryu is jealous of Kamiya, even though his relationship with Asuka is professional. But while the only person Asuka wants to marry is Ryu, she wonders what might happen if she takes Kamiya’s overtures seriously since it seems he does really want to get married.

As always the art is attractive and easy to follow, easily handling cute scenes of Ryu and Asuka supporting each other in addition to some tumultuous relationship drama. I wish Shojo Beat could bring out more series like this all at the same time, but I’ll be happy with what I can get.

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