Year: 2009

Contest + First Look: Yawara! A Fashionable Judo Girl, We are living in a Judo world and I am a Judo girl!

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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.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #045

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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.

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One Pound Gospel, Bang, bang! Zoom, zoom! My girlfriend is a nun!

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I am a huge Rumiko Takahashi fan so I have no problem with reviewing any of her works for the blog. My favorite manga is Maison Ikkoku. The main problem, and the reason some people can’t stand Rumiko Takahashi, is she is adept at making long running series and then making Shonen Sunday buckets and buckets of money. Some people, like me, will read 36 volumes of Ranma 1/2 and love every book. Rumiko Takahashi is great at making enjoyable comedy characters that are utter bastards but you keep rooting for. She is also generally good at doing romantic comedy but she sometimes drags it out too long. But there is a bit of hope. Since she is a manga writing machine she also does several smaller series like One Pound Gospel in between writing huge titles.

I had read the first three books of this series quite a long time ago when it was released by VIZ in single comics format. I think I must still have those somewhere. I remembered it fondly and was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t just nostalgia. It was also highly gratifying to finally see the conclusion to a series where none was expected after nine years of nothing.

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