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Manga Reviews

Ooku Volume 5

Ooku Volume 5 by Fumi Yoshinaga

I like this series, but I am feeling a little impatient about all the flashbacks establishing the world of Yoshinaga’s gender-flipped Edo period. When the first couple volumes introduced Yoshitsune, we saw a female shogun who was pragmatic, practical and horrified by the excess of court life. Yoshinaga shows how the court gradually grows more excessive and corrupt, as well as the desperation of the previous shogun to conceive a child. Even though Japan now functions as a matriarchal society, it isn’t necessarily any better with women in charge. The scarce men are valued only for their sperm, and the Shogun’s harem of men is a demonstration of of her wealth.

The fifth volume details the rise to power of Emonnsuke, as he manipulates the other men around him in the Inner Chambers. He has special palaces designed for the Shogun’s chosen men, ostensibly to honor them but they serve to keep her support system at a distance. The Shogun’s close female confident the Baron of Dewa confronts Emonnsuke, and while both acknowledge each other’s power nothing much gets changed. It is hilarious when Emonnsuke starts calling for salt to purify himself after talking with the Baron, thinking to himself “Is she the love-child of a demon and a human, perhaps!?” When the shogun’s daughter and heir Matsu dies the pressure on her to produce a new heir is immense, and the resulting antics in the Inner Chamber grow more and more corrupt. While some of the non-chosen men in the Inner Chamber view it as a respite from their previous duties servicing women for money to support their families, the Shogun is forced to sleep with a succession of lovers and isn’t allowed to fully mourn the child she lost. She’s lost in despair when she confesses to Emmonnsuke, “I’ll tell thee what a shogun is — ’tis a base sordid woman, lower by far than those men who sell themselves in the cheapest bawdy houses.”

There’s a huge contrast between the rituals of the Ooku and the inner lives of of the people who are caught in its rituals. The Shogun starts making foolish laws. A shocking act of violence is committed by one of the last Samurai families controlled by men, and the Shogun’s reaction is to create a new law placing even more power in the hands of women. There’s a glimmer of something new towards the end of the volume, as the Shogun meets her young relative O-Nobu. O-Nobu’s freedom in speaking exactly what’s on her mind and her confession that since she’s not pretty she doesn’t value pretty men delight the elderly Shogun. O-Nobu will grow up to become the Shogun Yoshitsune, and I’m hoping that the next volume will tell more of her story. The strength of Ooku is the world building and the careful and measured way Yoshinaga presents the rituals and history of the Inner Chamber. But at the end of this volume, I have the feeling that most of this story is just prologue, leading to the possibility of Yoshitsune doing something to change the static matriarchal society of Yoshinaga’s alternate history.

Review copy provided by the publisher

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Manga Reviews

Twin Spica Volume 2


Twin Spica Volume 2 by Kou Yaginuma

I am woefully behind on this series, but I guess that can be a good thing as I can look forward to reading plenty of volumes to get caught up. One of the things I was struck with in this volume is Yaginuma’s economy when packing the story full of emotional beats. He manages to create many genuinely affecting scenes in only a few pages. Twin Spica might be a little sentimental, but the sentiment is earned. Asumi has been admitted to space school and prepares to follow her dream of becoming an astronaut. The second volume starts out with a melancholy note as Asumi has to say goodbye to her spiritual companion Mr. Lion. He runs along her train yelling at her not to cry and to do her best. Asumi promptly gets her skirt stuck in the train door.

When she arrives at space school, she’s reunited with her fellow recruits. They have to face grueling physical training and hard science classes. Even though Asumi is one of the smallest in her class, she’s one of the quickest due to some of the training exercises Mr. Lion has put her through. Asumi’s natural tenacity might not be enough to overcome her being singled out by a teacher who doesn’t approve of her father and her need for an expensive custom flight suit. The flashback episodes in Twin Spica are the most affecting. While the first volume dealt with Asumi’s trauma over losing her mother, the second volume focuses on a friend from Asumi’s childhood who was also affected by the spaceship crash that overshadows Asumi’s current life and dreams. Asumi’s relentless pursuit of friendship and her refusal to give up even when facing rejection will hopefully carry over into a triumph over her issues at space school.

There’s a contrast in Twin Spica between Asumi’s natural innocence and optimism and the cynical approach of many of her teachers at space school. Asumi’s persistence despite her obstacles makes her a heroine you want to root for. While she may be starry-eyed in her quest for space, the administrators at space school aren’t willing to make sacrifices for a promising student that doesn’t fit the exact physical profile for an astronaut. Asumi stands out, and that can be a bad thing as she learns more about her father’s involvement in the crash. This was a good second volume, but I have a feeling that the series really starts to get going in the next couple volumes. I need to get caught up soon!

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Manga Reviews

Harlequin Manga Quick Takes – To Marry a Stranger and To Woo a Wife

To Marry a Stranger by Renee Roszel and Takako Hashimoto

I decided to read this title mainly because the hero of the story has an eye patch. Eye patches are a feature of romantic heroes that seem to be sorely neglected recently, although I think for some reason they were more prevalent in the 80s. Helen wants to know who her destined man is, so she decides to visit the conveniently located Love Mansion, a haunted house that is located near the bed and breakfast she’s opening with her sisters. She runs into the current habitat of the Love Mansion, Damien Lord. He happens to be horribly scarred due to accidents he suffered as a reporter in Afghanistan, but he’s taken up residence in the country to recuperate. Damien is cranky and Helen decides to tame him by feeding him plenty of home-cooked meals. To Marry a Stranger follows the typical Harlequin formula of a woman’s beauty and domestic talents winning over a tortured yet handsome man. It is enlivened by Hashimoto’s art which is relaxed, with a feminine cartoony style. I do believe that more romance heroes need eye patches.

To Woo A Wife by Carol Mortimer and Yoko Hanabusa

This was an entertaining title, simply because Hanabusa’s art has an old fashioned look to it. The characters have long noses and limpid eyes that wouldn’t look out of place in a 1980s manga. When you combine the old school art with a socially maladjusted hero given to making random women hating comments hilarity ensues. Jarrett Hunter is a millionaire bachelor who is trying to buy a hotel from a “Black Widow,” a woman who conveniently married a very elderly rich man who died a couple years into the marriage. Jarrett has managed to avoid the snares of women, because he’s been severely messed up by his mother running out on his father. So when he meets Addie, he assumes that she is a very high-priced hooker, because he thinks she’s visiting a hotel alone. Unfortunately Addie is the widow he’s been sent to woo for the purposes of acquiring her real estate. He has golden eyes! She has violet eyes! Will their bickering lead to love? Will he be charmed by her relationship with her young daughter? Will he relentlessly pursue her? Does he have two unmarried brothers so the author will be able to write a trilogy? The answers to all these questions is of course a resounding yes. Even though there were a few rough spots in the adaptation for this manga, I found it entertaining simply because of Jarrett’s horrible social ineptness, which would have probably caused him to get beaten up if he wasn’t a handsome billionaire.

Access to electronic copies provided by the publisher

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Manga Reviews

Black Gate Volumes 1-3

Black Gate Volumes 1-3 by Yukiko Sumiyoshi

Usually I love omnibus editions because they give me a good excuse to devour two or more volumes of manga in an afternoon. I found it hard to get excited about Black Gate, an omnibus of a complete 3 volume series that features attractive art that is hampered by a lack of compelling storytelling. In Black Gate, there are light and dark gates that exert a powerful influence on human spirits. When someone is ready to die, they naturally go through a gate into the next world. Black gates are malign forces that try to take human souls too soon. Mitedamashi have the power to seal gates. Senju is a guardian to Hijiri, a rather bratty boy with a powerful mystical heritage. The fate of humankind may hang in the balance as Hijiri finds out the secret of his past, but will he be mature enough to harness his natural power?

One of the more unfortunate aspects of Black Gate is the lack of real character development. Hijiri’s main mode of expression is irresponsible brat, and while he exhibits a little bit of character growth he mostly remains static. Senju is haunted by the death of Hijiri’s parents, but he keeps plugging away at his part-time job (being a gatekeeper pays very little) and raising Hijiri as best he can. I found Senju a more compelling protagonist than Hijiri, so I was disappointed when he abruptly disappears for a long stretch of the book. Senju is replaced in Hijiri’s life by the sudden appearance of the Sugawara cousins, a pair of teen boys who also serve as guardians. Hijiri struggles to become a gate keeper himself and he tries to partner up with with Michizane, the half brother of one of the guardian cousins. The second and third volume become weighted down with a bit of plot mish mash involving a gate keeper serial killer, spirit possession, inadvertent immortality, and a struggle between the human and spirit worlds.

I usually tend to enjoy manga with themes like Black Gate, but I found it hard to get interested in this manga because Sumiyoshi tends to gloss over character development. None of her characters have terribly unique personalities, and the protagonist Hijiri isn’t very nuanced. I found myself not really caring what was going to happen to Hijiri, and that made it difficult to work up much enthusiasm for this manga. Sumiyoshi’s art is slick and competent, and she has a knack for creating attractive character designs. I really wish she’d been partnered with a different author because I think the work would have been so much better if the art was created in service to a more interesting story. I tend to place a little more importance on story than art when reading manga, but the art has to be absolutely gorgeous for me to overlook dull storytelling. Biomega might be incoherent, but it has the advantages of lovely art and a gimmicky supporting character that I adore. Bride of the Water God is gorgeous, and relies more on mood and extra pretty characters than story. Unfortunately there wasn’t enough in Black Gate to compensate for its narrative shortcomings. I read all three volumes of Black Gate, hoping the story would get better and I ended up disappointed. Someone who reads manga primarily for the art might find Black Gate much more fun than I did.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

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Manga Reviews

Kurozakuro Volume 1

Kurozakuro Volume 1 by Yoshinori Natsume

This manga about a bullied schoolboy who makes a pact with evil forces to gain strength wasn’t really to my taste, but Kurozakuro offers a glimpse of something a little different as it incorporates the horror genre into an otherwise conventional shonen tale. Kurozakuro starts out by introducing an overly familiar shonen hero. Mikito is mild and meek, and thus the target of bullies at school. His humiliation is doubled when the girl he has a crush on attempts to come to his rescue. A strange creature comes to Mikito in a dream. Mikito crawls across a desolate landscape towards a barren tree where an impish child with sharp teeth commands him to name his desire. Mikito says that he wants to be stronger so “no one will push me around anymore.” The child says he’ll give Mikito power and in return he has to make the tree bloom. Mikito wakes up the next day with heightened senses, a quick temper, and super strength.

Mikito starts finding joy in violence, and his crush Saki is disgusted by him. He starts dealing with odd compulsions, and finds out that there are demon hunters out to get him. Mikito is slowly turning into an ogre and starts craving human flesh. To make matters worse, a teen demon hunter girl has just transferred into his class. Trying to hide from demon hunters, eating raw meat, and struggling with the compulsion to kill people can make it tough to function effectively in high school. Other than his new habit of thinking of people as meat, there isn’t much to distinguish Mikito from every other bullied shonen manga hero who wants to get stronger. Natsume’s art is a little stiff. The lack of fluidity works fine when he’s referencing the visual language of horror manga, with weird lighting and shading on Mikito’s face as his ogre personality starts to take over, but isn’t as effective during the action scenes when the ogre hunters start to take out their prey.

I enjoyed a couple things about Kurozakuro. The shonen/horror mash-up was interesting and the dark tone set it apart from the more typical fighting manga I tend to expect. But none of the characters were particularly compelling, and I didn’t put the manga down feeling all that invested in the story. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this title to someone who enjoys horror manga. For me, the stock plot elements and lackluster art overwhelmed the more interesting way Natsume was playing with genre. If the art had been a bit more surreal or the characters more unique I’d probably like this title a lot more.