Category: Manga of the Month

Manga of the Month: Penguin Revolution

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Penguin Revolution (ペンギン 革命) by Sakura Tsukaba

It is quite possible that everything, ever, by Sakura Tsukaba will eventually land here on Manga of the Month. Her heroines are a delight and I can’t say enough about her ability to meld romance and comedy with a little supernatural.

In Penguin Revolution, we meet Yukari a peppy, hard-working girl with an odd ability to see others’ potential to be a star which manifests as a pair of wings on their back. One day she runs into beautiful Ryouko whose wings shine brightly one moment but then become small sprouts. Their meeting quickly gets complicated when Yukari realizes Ryouko is actually Ryou, a guy dressed as a girl. Ryou is employed by famous talent agency Peacock which requires its members to disguise themselves so when Yukari discovers his identity he offers her a job as his manager (which actually requires her to dress as a man). Thus begins their journey through the entrainment world, friendships and rivalries, romance, and family drama.

The series is clearly over the top but the emotions resonate as do the characters. Yukari has a positive and infectious optimism, this is balanced out by Ryou who has great potential but is still a fledgling especially compared to many other members of the agency. Their’s is a slow building bond that begins with odd circumstances but becomes a trusting and true romance. This is a tame, fun, and sweet series with plenty of heart that can’t help but leave you with a smile.

July’s Manga of the Month: Steel Angel Kurumi

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Steel Angel Kurumi (鋼鉄天使くるみ) by Kaishaku

If you listened to the 18th episode of the Speakeasy about Kekkaishi you might remember the Interrogation Room question about what were titles the Reverse Thieves disagreed on. A manga like Steel Angel Kurumi is a perfect example of the sort of trash I like but Narutaki would never willingly read in million years. Steel Angel Kurumi is hardly high literature. In fact high literature weeps when in the same room with Steel Angel Kurumi. But it starts off as a fantastical historical piece in the Taisho era which makes it different than your normal shonen romance and slowly starts to go all over the place.  It is a surprisingly fun little series with a decent amount of heart (and even more boobs and bum.)

Nakahito Kagura is a powerful mystic but a frail boy. So when he is being bullied by some boys from school he accidentally gets shoved into a seemly abandoned lab where he accidentally kisses a life sized doll. Due to his magical power his kiss awakens the android with an angel heart named Kurumi. Soon Nakahito meets Kurumi’s two other sisters Saki and Karinka who make things more complicated. At first they are on the run from the Japanese military but when other nations are revealed to have their own Steel Angels the story gets more complicated. Soon demons, curses, secret organizations, and time travel to the distant year of 2011 are added to the mix.

I’m not going to lie and say that Steel Angel Kurumi is a manga for everyone. It is filled with flaws. The plot despise its initial historical setting is hardly original. Also everything is very clearly being made up as the story goes along. The characters are all archetypical. And there is boobs (with nipples) and panty shots galore. But despite all of that the manga has manic energy and joy. While the story never has a clear focus it is always moving to a new fun idea and never letting a plot line drag on for too long. Boom. Their running from the military. Boom. They are participating in the Steel Fight. Boom. They travel to the future. Boom. They are fighting hidden demons. Never a dull moment. Also while the characters are extremely archetypical they are also pretty fun. I particularly like Karinka’s spunky attitude. The humor can be hit or miss. Some of the jokes are pieces of lazy harem humor but they really hit it out of the park sometimes. You also have to like that most of the random Steel Angles are actually reader submitted like it was Kinnikuman. I always felt like Kaishaku were having fun while making Steel Angel Kurumi and that is a powerful plus. Sadly this was an ADV manga title so they only ever published 9 out of 11 books. Maybe one day I will see where they finally ended this fun little manga.

Manga of the Month: Neighborhood Story

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Neighborhood Story (ご近所物語) by Ai Yazawa

If there is one manga-ka that always sticks in my mind, it is Ai Yazawa. Her wit and superb style makes her unforgettable. So I find it a great tragedy that Neighborhood Story hasn’t seen a U.S. release yet.

Neighborhood Story relates the tale of budding fashion student Mikako along with a bevy of eccentric friends attending a high school for the arts. With Mikako’s energetic and enterprising nature, the group starts selling their various works (fashion, stuffed animals, video games, etc.) at a street market. Dreams grow bigger while others invariably change over the course of the story true to human nature. And the same can be said for the relationships swirling around it. Tsutomu and Mikako’s childhood friendship steadily grows into love but a few half-hearted and confused romances happen before they can get there. While Yuusuke and Mariko have an on again off again fiery affair for a while. It is actually quite impressive that Yazawa has characters break-up and date around, quite a rarity if you think about shojo series. Mikako also has some family issues like her parents divorce, her mother’s rather childish behavior, and her father’s distance in her life to come to terms with. Style plus a flair for the comedic and dramatic allows Neighborhood Story to weave a perfect tale of friendship, dreams, love, and life.

As an added bonus, Neighborhood Story ties in with Paradise Kiss; Mikako is Miwako’s older sister who appears as a famous fashion designer; Risa and Takeshi are Arashi’s parents. Neighborhood Story came out first though.