Manga of the Month: June
May 31, 2009
Hourou Musuko by Shimura Takako
Hourou Musuko is the story of two fifth graders who form a bond because of a common secret: they both feel happier being dressed as the opposite gender. We start the story with Shuichi on his first day of school and the time he meets Yoshino. After meeting her and some other girl friends, his desire to dress as a girl heightens. We come to find out that Yoshino has started dressing in her brother’s old school uniform and taking the train far away to go about as a boy. Shuichi starts accompanying her posing as a girl. Throughout the story they not only deal with what this desire means about them, but also more common issues such as being bullied, friendship, and the future. Their friendship is the center of the swirling confusing time of coming of age that is only made more complex by their gender confusion. Shuichi and Yoshino understand and accept each other creating a bond that sometimes makes others in the story feel left out. However, I can’t help but think, “Thank goodness you have someone to share this with!” when reading this. A varied cast also evolves as they meet new people like Yuki and Shi as well as when parts of their friends and family learn about their secrets. There are moments of support, moments of confusion, and moments of hope. While not wholly realistic (not that it need be), this is a tame and thoughtful look at transgender issues.
Say Hello to Black Jack by Shuho Sato
I will start by explaining why I think this manga is called Say Hello to Black Jack. Osamu Tezuka was a doctor before he became a full-time manga artist. One of the major reason he left the medical field was his disgust with the politics and corruption. Black Jack is very obviously the work of a man who had grown disgusted with the state of the bureaucracy in the medical profession. Shuho Sato attempts to show a modern version with a far more realistic doctor who works inside the system to do what Black Jack did outside of the system. The title is basically saying welcome to what made Black Jack the Black Jack we know.
Saito Eijirou is a fresh-faced doctor who comes in filled with high ideals but little real world experience when it comes to medicine. During his internship at a fairly prestigious hospital he takes a night job at another hospital to cover his living expenses. He quickly comes to see that the Japanese medical system is filled with bloated bureaucracy, outdated customs, petty politics, questionable ethics, and outright corruption. After almost being broken by his initial encounters with utter darkness he eventually begins to learn how to balance keeping his ethics and enthusiasm to help his patients while learning to operate and use the system. He might even be able to change things for the better.
This series is cynical. This cannot be understated. It views the Japanese medical establishment as darkly as possible. While there are good people in the system most people are either part of the problem or simply ignore it. Also it is a bit dry. There is little humor and it can get technical when it wants to. There are three major reason it look into Say Hello to Black Jack. First, it’s an interesting insight into a part of Japanese society we don’t get to see. Second, it’s good explore other genres and medical manga is always a refreshing change of pace. Third, it has a new experimental release structure. Shuho Sato is selling chapters for download-to-own on the web. I am extremely curious how well that is going to work out.
Ongoing Investigations: Case #046
May 29, 2009
I picked up one of the blind box Gundam 00 Calendar Characters and got lucky! My pick turned out to be Allelujah for May/Children’s Day. There are 12 figures total, one for each month, so each meister has 3 figures. As you can see Allelujah is in his flight suit here, but each of the others has a different outfit. Some look more fun than others. They also come with two accessories related to their month/holiday. Though since the pose and heads are basically the same across the board I don’t have the desire to collect them all. But it is certainly worth having my favorite of. He is quite cute and tiny, and easily worth my $6.
Suikoden Tierkreis is a fine return to form for the Suikoden series even if this is a side story. After some lackluster entries, I am glad to see a very solid renewal of the franchise. Suikoden Tierkreis involves parallel worlds and destiny vs. free will. I won’t claim that it is high literature but it competently handles pretty weighty topics in a competent and entertaining manner which can often be hard for video games. The story starts after some friends who are part of a small village defense force find a book that revels the memories they have are lies. A new organization that believes everything is predestined seek to make a single world where everyone believes as they do. So this rag tag team must rally together to defeat this fanatical organization. I really like that your main allies, the Magedom, are almost as nasty as your enemies in the Order of the One True Way. One of the biggest strengths with 108 recruitable characters is you will always like at least one or two characters. However, many charters don’t get detailed character development. The main charters is sort of the generic plucky never give up shonen hero but at least he has a personality beyond silent protagonist everyone likes for no given reason. The main cast is all enjoyable so you don’t have to cling to side characters in the game. The game play is the standard turn-based RPG battles. Without a doubt the two biggest flaws are the encounter rate and the voice acting. The random encounter rate is really high which makes exploration a pain. Also, there are only one or two decent voice actors making it overall quite bad. Unfortunately, there is a lot of voice acting. I tend to play it on my commute on the subway so it often does not matter but when I do hear it I tend to skip.
Contest + First Look: Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl, We are living in a Judo world and I am a Judo girl!
May 25, 2009
WIN THE 1ST BOXSET OF YAWARA!
DETAILS AT THE END OF THE REVIEW.
If you ask most manga fans about Naoki Urasawa the titles that will spring to mind are: Monster, 20th Century Boys, and Pluto. Super cool people who are awesome will also know Master Keaton. Urasawa is famous in the States for his well-written mystery series that are equivalent to literature. In Japan he has the same reputation but people also have a fondness for his softer, earlier works. The most famous being Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl. Yawara! was Urasawa first break out hit. Decidedly lighter than his later works, it still shows his ability to make compelling characters that draw the reader in. The Yawara manga ran for 29 volumes and the anime for 124 episodes. In 1992, when Ryoko Tamura got the silver medal in Judo during the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, she gained the nickname Yawara-chan that she still has today. The Yawara anime ran as a sister show to Ranma 1/2 and often got higher ratings. Sadly while Ranma 1/2 became a huge hit in America, Yawara is basically unknown. This is a real shame because Yawara is a really charming show that is both funny and filled with a good deal of heart.
I have only recently started reading Urasawa’s works such as Pluto and 20th Century Boys but they are certainly a very different story from A Fashionable Judo Girl. The title alone could probably tell you that. However, I don’t really have a clear opinion of Urasawa yet so I didn’t go into this show with an sort of expectation. All I really knew was that Yawara! was a rather popular sports comedy from the early 90′s. It is a rather long series, so here we have sampled the first 18 episodes to give you a taste of it.
Ongoing Investigations: Case #045
May 22, 2009
It time for more the part of Ongoing Investigations were I show you what toys I bought. First up is new two newest Portraits of Pirates. The set seems to have back in black as the theme. The first is the newest member of the Straw Hat Pirates, Brook. He is a skeleton, with an Afro, a top hat, and a suit who plays the violin. If this combination of words does not make you want a figure of him, I am not sure what I can say to sell you on it. He comes with a sword cane, a tea cup, and his tone dial. Also you can also pop open the little compartment in his skull and keep the tone dial in there which I find an amusing attention to detail. In contrast we have Rob Lucci. Another man in a black suit with a top hat but with a completely different tone to the lighthearted Brook. Rob also comes with his pigeon Hattori and his mask. I really think that as the Portrait of Pirates series has gone on they have really come into their own. While Rob is not as complex as some of the latest entries into the series he is well done and really captures the essence of the character. Brook is complex and customizable for a static pose figure. I am a little surprised that they decided to make Rob instead of the more popular Kaku.
Picked up Spiral’s seventh volume. There are some bigger points that start to uncover themselves here, just hints but it is expected to come slowly. Ayumu taking on brute force verse his logic is great. It also randomly reminded me of the L movie where they sort of imply that violence can beat brains as well. I don’t think I would normally notice that but since I watched that and read this so close to each other it stuck out. I also like that Ayumu is admitting his brother is manipulating everyone like a puppet though he just plain doesn’t want to think so. I also found a couple of moments with Hiyono possibly revealing there is more going on under the surface. Has me curious. Looking forward to more as usual.
