Category: Reviews

Special Screening: L Change the WorLd, A 12-year-old’s bad fan-fiction?

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SPOILERS, SPOILERS. TRUST ME YOU DON’T CARE.

Since it went over so well last time, we saw the film at the same place we watched the second Death Note movie. Once again not too crowded, though more so than when we went the other time. I didn’t go into this movie with many expectations, I had heard and read a bit about it before hand. Though frankly it would be hard for me NOT to go see a movie all about L. So with only mild hopes I braced myself for this film. Somehow the reviews didn’t do the movie justice. It was much worse than I could have imagined, it may have physically injured me at points. The only thing that prevented me from plain giving up on it was that I committed myself to writing this review! How dare you film, how dare you make me write a word against L!

W.C. Fields said, “Never work with animals or children.” L, or should I say Kenichi Matsuyama, should have listened to him. The fact an L movie was being made was hardly a surprise to anyone. He was clearly the most popular character hands down. They had the prefect place to add in one last hurrah before his ultimate end. When I first heard about the movie I was cautiously optimistic. L has to solve his last case against terrorists with a super plague having only a few days left to live. Sounds fine. Then I heard it was a stupid action movie. I was fine with that. Although L was almost always playing mental games in the manga, they also made a big deal that he was amazingly physically fit and even a martial arts master. I thought that people went into the movie expecting another mind game but got a cheesy action movie and were overly harsh. No they were overly generous. Everything that could make a movie bad was bad in this lemon of a movie. When my favorite original character was a vehicle you know you are in trouble. And before you ask it was not a cool talking car.

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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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Manga of the Month: May

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Vinland Saga by Makoto Yukimura

There are plenty of manga about ninjas. About robots. About zombies. About pirates. Even space pirates. But there is one division of cool that has gone neglected far too long: Vikings. Enter Makoto Yukimura. I won the first book of Planetes in a contest and I really loved the concept of garbage men in space plus the well written characters. When I found he had another series I rushed to see what it was about. Unfortunately when I first looked there was not much translated. I recently decided to go back and see if any progress had been made. Thankfully they are now up to date!

Vinland Saga opens with an army besieging a Frankish fortress to no avail. A band of Viking mercenaries led by Askeladd note the situation then cautiously offer to assist in the raid with both sides planning to betray the other after the fortress has fallen. A young man named Thorfinn makes a bargain with Askeladd. If he can take the head of the fortress’s commander, Thorfinn will be granted a boon. Then we are treated to an amazing surprise attack from Askeladd troops and Thorfinn’s remarkable one man battle to gain the enemy commander’s head. After the battle Thorfinn asks to duel Askeladd to avenge his father’s death. We we then begin jumping back and forth through history learning how Thorfinn became part of this mercenary band and the ramifications of Thorfinn’s quest for revenge.

Vinland Saga has all the strengths that drew me to Planetes while showing Makoto Yukimura’s range as an author. We have another well researched topic. Who does not want to read a manga where Leif Ericson is an important minor character? Also Vinland Saga has just as strong a cast as  Planetes. Askeladd is a charming and manipulative bastard. Thorfinn is a complex character who we see change from a bright a cheery boy to an obsessed young man. The biggest difference between  Planetes and Vinland Saga is the number of amazing action scenes. Planetes is mostly a dialog filled manga with brief moments of tension and action. Vinland Saga is an action manga that is deftly able to keep the excitement high while still telling a good story.

Short Program by Mitsuru Adachi

Short program is just three volumes long but they are collections of short stories usually one (but sometimes two or three) chapters long. The pieces are looks into different people’s lives through a moment or situation. Each volume of these vignettes takes your through a wide array of emotions from surprise to joy to sadness. Many of the stories have a little lesson in them while others are just there to warm the heart or make you laugh. Unsurprisingly the most common scenario deals with romantic entanglements of varying degrees. Some highlights include: the title work “Short Program,” which deals with a boy and girl who live just across from each other; “Plus I” about a girl and the repair guy that fixes her stereo; and “Memory Off” about a guy who finds a girl with sudden amnesia at his front door. Adachi’s simplistic art style combined with his succinct ability to convey traits and emotion makes Short Program a delightful piece of work. And reminds me how unfortunate it is that Adachi’s manga have not gained much of a fan following state side.