Ah, the last volumes of series published by Tokyopop. I can’t help but feel wistful when I think about not being able to read the end of these series. And since a decent number of volumes for both of these were published, I can’t imagine another company would pick up the licenses. Fortunately after feeling mournful about Demon Sacred and Shinobi Life, I was able to read the concluding volume of the ever delightful Karakuri Odette.

Demon Sacred #4

After the first few volumes of non-stop insanity with all the demons manifesting on earth as pop idol duplicates and reverse aging syndrome, the fourth volume is a little bit more settled. It felt to me like Itsuki was digging in a bit with her typical slow world building. One revelation I found interesting was that the immortal demons are attracted to humans due to their mortality. If a human ever truely loves a demon, the demon may finally receive the gift of a revered type of death. Shinobu’s evil sister Zophie manages to coax her way into his apartment by bribing K2 with pastries, and as soon as she gets a glimpse of the demon she decides to use her cougar wiles on him. Mona is less than thrilled about her demon running off with an older woman. Rina is dealing with the emotional effects of her reverse aging. Shinobu’s family and the government are introducing an anti-demon military and propaganda campaign and they’ve decided to approach Keito to act as their celebrity spokesperson. I love the way Itsuki manages to construct a story out of the most improbably elements but still manage to make everything happening seem believable and natural. With so many volumes left in this series, I’m really curious about where the story would have gone.

Shinobi Life #7

It seems like with every volume of this series there’s a surprising character revelation. Beni is trapped in the past with a younger version of Kegetora, while Kagetora travels to a time in Beni’s past when she is a little girl and her mother is alive. Beni is navigating through all the treachery and suspicion that surrounds Kagetora’s ninja clan, struggling with her feelings for a teenage Kagetora who hasn’t turned into the man she loves yet. Kagetora gets to observe a young Beni’s interactions with her mother, and he makes the discovery that Beni’s father is a time traveler as well. Beni’s mother describes what happens when travelers meet themselves, and Kagetora is determined to keep jumping through time until he finds her again. This was another great volume of Shinobi Life, and I’m sorry that I won’t be able to read the rest of the series.

Karakuri Odette #6

The final volume of this series has one of those open-ended conclusions that I sometimes find annoying, but Karakuri Odette has always been so episodic it didn’t bother me that no big plots were wrapped up at the end. Odette’s robot girl uniqueness is explored further when the sibling robots of rival creator Dr Owen cause further complications in her life. Travis has decided that Odette should be his robot bride. Even though Grace has a lower level of artificial intelligence, she’s jealous of Odette. Owen sees that Odette is superior to his own creations and is determined to grab her so he can find out how she became so advanced. Owen’s strategies to capture Odette result in horrible failure. He underestimates the capabilities of his own robots to decide on their own actions. He approaches Odette himself with a “Hey little girl” type line that she immediately sees through. Finally, he tries to get Odette’s human best friend Asao to deliver Odette to him, with disastrous results. Odette is working through the idea that she might not have a companion for life. Asao is moving on and graduating, and as much has he professes not to care for the robot girl, he still appears to help her whenever she’s in trouble. Chris just lurks in the background being silently supportive and Travis isn’t suitable for a number of reasons. Odette’s final lesson in her journey to becoming human is understanding the nature of change. As the school year ends, all the characters seem to be capable of moving on in their own ways.

I’ve procrastinated writing about the last couple volumes of Gatcha Gacha because I didn’t really want this series to end. In a world filled with cookie cutter shoujo, this series is genuinely weird, somewhat endearing, and occasionally disturbing. I’m assuming that based on the long stretches of time between the series debut and the translation of the final volume that this series didn’t do so well in the sales arena, so kudos for Tokyopop for finishing it. While I’m unhappy about so many series being unfinished with Tokyopop shutting down, I’m trying to comfort myself with the idea that at least Gatcha Gacha was finished. There are plenty of spoilers ahead, so be warned.

Gatcha Gacha Volume 7 by Yutaka Tachibana

The seventh volume was the first one where I felt like Tachibana was stalling for time before the end of the series. Instead of focusing on the relationships between the main characters, we get an extended flashback of what happened between Motoko and a girl from her past named Sae. Motoko gets involved in Sae’s life, and while Sae thinks that she’s using Motoko, it is clear that everyone’s favorite tough girl has her own motivations for intervening. The next story arc in this Motokocentric volume touches on the possibility that she has a different family background than everybody previously assumed. It is interesting to see the agony Yuri goes through when confronted with the idea that Motoko might be disappearing from her life. Motoko ends up solving the issue with her customary directness, and it reminded me how much I enjoy reading a manga that features a character that just says whatever she wants without fear. In another series, the situation probably wouldn’t have been taken care of in half a volume, because everyone would sill be sneaking around without saying anything.

Gatcha Gacha Volume 8 by Yutaka Tachibana

The final volume confirms that the great love affair in this manga wasn’t between Yuri and Yabe or Yuri and Hirao, but Yuri and Motoko. Someone with a better background in gender studies than I would probably have a field day with Gatcha Gacha. It certainly shows a quirky yet positive proto-lesbian relationship between Yuri and Motoko, but it also uses gay characters and situations as fodder for soap opera sleaze of the highest order, as the cute girl who has been stalking Hirao is revealed to be a guy with an overprotective brother/gang leader who makes his displeasure known when the male objects of his cross dressing brothers affection reject his advances. The image of Yuri being menaced by a gang member in full gimp costume is one of the most incongruous things I’ve seen in mainstream shoujo, and one of the reasons why I love Gatcha Gacha is that it can be both surprising and weird.

The ending is one of those open-ended conclusions that often seem to plague manga. The characters are all a little different thanks to knowing each other, but all of the ongoing relationship issues are hinted at instead of given a clear resolution. Hirao is still enamored of Yuri, but even as she tries to give their relationship a chance and acts jealous if other girls give him attention, she’s probably slotted him into a non-romantic category in her mind. His emotional sensitivity and generosity has her thinking of him as princess she wants to protect. In contrast, when Yuri needs someone to rescue her, the person she calls for is Motoko. Motoko sweeps in, ready to fight for Yuri. When I first put the volume down I felt a little cheated because the end of the manga didn’t totally feel like a static conclusion. After reflecting a bit, I realized that even though there might not be major changes, the personalities of all of the characters have shifted a little bit just from their interaction over time. Motoko really views friendship with Yuri as something precious. Yuri is able to stand up for herself a little bit. Hirao is still going after Yuri, but he’s aware that it may already be too late. One of the funniest bits in this volume came with the omake at the back where the characters react to the lack of an ending, and Hirao is complaining that everything’s come back to where it started, only to be answered with the comment that “the girls have all grown into strong, sensitive men.” Gatcha Gacha has been one of the quirkiest shoujo manga that I’ve read, and I’ll horde these precious volumes until I die since they’ll be going out of print. I’m already looking forward to rereading the series next year.

Thanks so much to Sean Gaffney for sending me his extra copy of Volume 8!