Category: Manga

Aishiteruze Baby, Just the two of us.

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Yoko Maki was one of the first manga-ka I discovered in the wondrous world of scanlations. Yoko Maki’s work often have fun female leads with a little bite and cute boys abound with a focus on friendship and budding romance. She also draws in the somewhere between simple and complex with a perchance for the sweet and cute. As I read more of her pieces she quickly climbed my charts for a wonderful shojo manga artist that remained untranslated (and all of her pieces besides this one remain so).

But it wasn’t until later, when VIZ picked up her (what was at the time one of her most recent works) sweet series about a boy who finds himself with a new responsibility in the form a cute little girl, did I actually get around to finishing this story.

Unlike Narutaki, my interest in Aishiteruze Baby came from a more unusual direction.

The last manga review on Anime Jump before it went into hibernation was a review by Chad Clayton for Aishiteruze Baby. What interested me was the odd dichotomy in opinions. I had heard quite a few enthusiastically positive reviews of Aishiteruze Baby. They usually involved some combination of sweet, funny, and heartwarming. But while no one was claiming it was high art the reviews almost always said that is was refreshing and delightful shojo dramedy.

Chad’s review on the other hand was pure venom. It was the complete and total deconstruction of the plot of the first book that makes the series out to be an artificial calculating monstrosity that was more emotional torture than entertainment. So I went into reading the manga with a great deal of anticipation. I had had long been curious where my opinion would come in on the matter. While I was pretty sure I was not going to love it as much as it’s most die hard fans I was also pretty sure I could never hate it as much as its extremely harsh critics.

What I was wondering is what side would I lean towards in the end and how much would I lean towards it.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #058

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Finally picked up books 3, 4, and 5 (along with 6 through 14) of Swan and am happily diving in deep with it. Even just a few books in, the competition has really been upped a notch as our dancers compete in Russia for both the chance to prove the Japanese have talent and also for a spot in an upcoming Russian revival. All of the rivalries so far have been fair, on the level, but fierce and make each push themselves harder than before. However, they have not leaped into sabotage or foul play which is a easy direction to take such things especially in a series that is as highly melodramatic as Swan is. It is rather amazing how much emotion, suspense, and progress Ariyoshi Kyoko packs into these volumes. Even the tragic downfall of a key player is handled deftly and while Masumi’s fate seems sealed in her future those spinning around her are a different story. Its a beautifully rendered story with some of the most dynamic page layouts I’ve ever encountered. Swan is a highlight of shojo manga that shouldn’t be missed and that I can’t personally put down.

Since I was not doing anything this Labor Day Sunday and Scott kept talking about it, I decided to go see one of Reni’s Japanese “Maid” Shows at Top Tunes. When I got there there was a line to get in and Scott mentionedit was one of the better turn outs. I think being a lazy Sunday before Labor day helped a lot. There was a one drink minimum as a charge which was reasonable, plus Scott and his friend finished off enough drinks that I was covered. Top Tunes itself was distinctly a bar with karaoke as opposed to a karaoke bar so there was a bit of crowding to get up front but nothing unmanageable. Reni sang a mixture of her own songs and anime songs. I got to hear Let Me Be With You from Chobits, Tonari no Totoro from My Neighbor Totoro, and Interstellar Flight from Macross Frontier. Of course she did the Ranka dance because otherwise it would not count. She also did three of her own songs one of which Scott helped write. She also had backup maid dancers for some of her songs which was amusingly odd. Overall it was a pleasant experience, the songs were cute and I got to hear Interstellar Flight which is always great. I definitely would not travel too far to see such a show but anyone in the NYC are might want to give it a look if for nothing else curiosity. I have never been to Akihabara so I don’t know how authentic the experience was but I assume if you went to a similar event in Japan it would be quite the same.

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #057

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I recently attended the Student Anime Film Screening & Discussion with anime scriptwriter Dai Sato at the Japan Society. There, 25 students attended the A*NI*ME: Japanese Animation Production class for two weeks to learn the basic philosophy, theory, and techniques behind anime production. They were split up into 5 teams which had to create a full write up for an anime series or movie complete with character descriptions, plot outline, and a small trailer for their pitch. After the trailers, Dai Sato and the other instructors mentioned what they liked and what could have been worked on. They were always very polite and kind but Dai Sato did give them legitimate feedback in a constructive manner. The first group did a pirate adventure very similar to One Piece called Casa Dulce in which a band of pirates are looking for the legendary Utopia but instead find family through their crew. The students in group two did an adventure series called Floreixen about a society were peoples’ destinies are determined by the eggs they are hatched from. The third group did a western horror influenced series called Scindo in which a mad scientist calling himself Grandfather kidnaps a group of teenagers and injects them with a drug called Scindo. The fourth group proposed a title called 99 where everyone is a partial conversation cyborg but one day a man who is 100% human is found and he is quickly draw into a conflict. Our last group was the only on to pitched a movie, it was called Hybrid where a half human/half robot boy goes on an adventure that makes him wish to seek peace between the warring human and machine sides. We were then shown a dubbed episode of Samurai Champloo about a graffiti battle. After the episode each of the groups was given an award. The first group won the grand prize but all of them got some award of recognition for what they did best. Even though the projects were clearly amateurish they were enjoyable considering they only had 2 weeks to complete the project and much of their time was spent learning how to do the writing and the philosophy behind it. Kishotenketsu the 4-part structure for Chinese and Japanese narratives seemed to be an important part of the classes and was mentioned by each group. After the award ceremony I got my Eureka 7 case and Narutaki’s Cowboy Bebop case signed by Dai Sato.

The Walking Man by Jiro Tanaguchi is a simple, short piece about a man exploring his new town which emphasizes the beauty of noticing the little things in the world and taking a minute to appreciate them. It also seems like a great excuse to draw incredible backgrounds and environments. In fact this is one of the few times where those take precedence over our character so much so that he doesn’t even have a name. The dialogue is sparse with some chapters having none at all. It doesn’t even come across as slice-of-life but just these very brief, serene moments in time.

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