Category: Fantasy

Manga of the Month: July

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Key to the Kingdom by Kyoko Shitou

Anything that even remotely looks like it could be high fantasy gets picked up by me this happens with varying results. However, with Key to the Kingdom it couldn’t have been a more worthy venture. This story starts perfectly and continues on with great vigor. Asta is the youngest prince, who has no desire to rule nor to hold a sword. So when the country’s rule lies in the hands of whoever can find the “key to the kingdom” it seems he will be able to leave his troubles in the hands of others. However, fate has other things in store as Badd, a retainer, drags him into looking for clues to the key’s whereabouts. Just as they start on their journey, arguing all the way, a Dragon Man appears on their path. It soon becomes clear that everything is not as it seems. A diverse cast emerges along the road as Asta resists but gets caught up in the complexity of the country’s history. The art is fluid even if it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. It is a wonderfully put together shojo fantasy filled with action, politics, dragons, mystery, and friendship. And at just six books it is a great read!

Touch by Mitsuru Adachi

I always had an interest in reading the works of Mitsuru Adachi. He is one of the great artists of the manga community that everyone talks about but rarely see any mainstream love for in America. I was waiting for some spark to give me the motivation to take the plunge into one of his manga series. That spark was the Cross Game anime. After seeing a few episodes I was sold on Mitsuru Adachi’s abilities as a storyteller. I decided if I was watching Cross Game I would go into Adachi’s back catalog and read through Touch to compare and contrast the two.

Kazuya and Tatsuya are twin brothers who seem as different as can be. Kazuya is the younger, upstanding, responsible, and focused young man who excels at everything he does including baseball. Tatsuya on the other hand is a perverted, irresponsible, slacker who does not really excel at anything. Kazuya is extremely popular with the girls while Tatsuya is much like Ataru, he hits on any pretty thing that moves but always strikes out. They are both in love with their next door neighbor Minami Asakura but everyone feels that Minami only has eyes for Kazuya. After Kazuya makes a promise to take Minami to Koshien and seems a lock in to deliver it seems that Tatsuya does not have a chance. But there are hints that Minami cares for Tasuya and possible more than his brother. But it often seems Tatsuya is his own worse enemy in developing their relationship.

Adachi is a master of melding the highs and lows of sports manga with the highs and lows of a well-crafted shonen romance. He is extremely skilled at making likable and instantly engaging characters. Tatsuya comes off as someone to root for right out of the gate. As the series goes on he we see he is a much more complex character but keeps the same energy from when we first met him. Shohei Harada is without a doubt the best character in the series. I will bring up the fact that Adachi’s simpler and somewhat traditional character designs might turn some people off. That is a shame, Adachi is able to draw out powerful emotions with his designs whether it be joy, sadness, anger, or passion. Easily worth checking out by anyone who wants a solid shonen romance. Hopefully one day someone in the U.S. will pick up Adachi’s manga and let people see how good he can be.

Kamichu!, Let’s all go to Kami-con!

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I was initially interested in Kamichu! because I heard people describing it as Spirited Away the TV series. That is some pretty high praise so it had a lot to live up to. When I went to Anime Expo I randomly saw the end of episode three and all of four while waiting for a panel to begin. While I really enjoyed it, I will admit to forgetting about it. When I saw it on a Geneon clearance sale later I picked it up. And then I promptly threw it on my unwatched anime pile. I dug it out when Narutaki and I agreed we should review something that was not a robot show. We were pleasantly rewarded for our efforts. This is a well done comedy for the whole family. It is just a warm series that has comedy, romance, and a dash of nostalgia with a fun supernatural twist.

I was initially interested in Kamichu! because Hisui came over and basically told me what she did in that first paragraph. Spirited Away is one of my favorite Studio Ghibli films (as I am sure it is many others’) so anything that even remotely resembles it, I’d need to check out. It also looked very cute. The show ended up being equal parts magical, funny, and charming. It has a lighter than air quality to it making Kamichu! easy to enjoy. While we stay earthbound (mostly) the show transports you to its setting and integrates you into its life. And it certainly has the ability to entertain the young as well as the old.

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Guin Saga #1: The Leopard Mask, And he’s watchin’ us all in the eye of the leopard!

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The classic pulp fantasy adventures involve manly men with rippling muscles fighting their way through hordes of monsters to survive and carve out a place of power in a chaotic and brutal world. The first name you usually think of in the west in this genre is Conan the Barbarian. The first Conan movie is what helped Arnold Schwarzenegger become a movie star. In Japan when people think of sword and sorcery the first name that jumps to mind is Guin. There are currently over 120 books in the series with no sign of stopping. In fact Guin Saga is the longest continuing single-writer’s work in the world. There is also a manga series of side stories and an anime based on the novels. Kaoru Kurimoto is also a well respected mystery novelist in addition to writing about Guin. Even Issac Asimov would be impressed. The Guin series is clearly influenced by writers like Robert E. Howard, Michael Moorcock and Fritz Leiber but she makes a fantasy world and characters that are her own.

I am always curious about works that have influenced creative minds across the board. This is especially true when I have only recently heard of a work that has been decades in the making and continues on (the 126th book was published just last month!). Though it seems quite suddenly Guin Saga has stepped into my line of vision not only thanks to Vertical’s publication of the first few novels (and some subsequent manga) in the series but as it has just begun an anime TV series run in Japan. Also a great love for both fantasy and adventure runs in my veins. Beyond so many other genres, these types of stories begin in an unfamiliar, mysterious world where the reader must not only discover the secrets of each character on the journey but also explore an unknown setting. So it was with barely restrained curiosity and excitement that I took up the first Guin novel.

After the Mongaul army has taken the capital of the Kingdom of Parros, the remaining twin heirs to the throne, Rinda and Remus, flee for their lives. During their attempt to escape they are accidentally teleported into enemy territory. When they are captured by enemy soldiers a man in a leopard mask named Guin single-handedly saves them. It turns out that Guin has amnesia and cannot remove the leopard mask. The three of them must band together not only to escape the deadly Marches they found themselves in but to escape the grasp of the tainted Black Count Vanon and Stafolos Keep.

Adventures can start many ways. Some may begin in a sleepy village or with an ordinary boy. Guin Saga laughs at that and fast-forwards you to where the action truly beings. This is easily one of the best hooks of the book: our narrator dumps us into the middle of the Marches only moments before Guin takes down an entire band of trained soldiers and then collapses. And this is Guin on an off day as he has only just awoken to his clouded memory and a leopard head quite unwilling to come off of his own head. These moments of intensity and calm come in quick succession like an enjoyable rollercoaster ride. Kurimoto also knows when and where to sprinkle the details of the world giving the viewer just enough to be able to fill in the surroundings with their imaginations. There are many scrapes in the next 200 pages and the body/ghoul/monster/thing count is high and bloody. However, the book is hardly a string of violent incidents. As we get more and more pieces to the puzzle, it becomes increasingly clear that this world is a complicated place.

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