Category: Reviews

Manga of the Month: Arte

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Arte (アルテ) by Kei Ohkubo

narutaki_icon_4040 The free online offerings of Comic Zenon are going strong. Each series has its own unique hook and look. Arte is a historical manga set in 16th century Europe about a noble woman who wants to become a professional painter. Kei Ohkubo’s deft line work and exquisite attention to detail bring the period setting to beautiful life.

Arte is determined to become a professional artist despite her family’s wishes. When she begins looking for a studio to apprentice at, all doors slam in her face until she meets disagreeable, but open-minded, Master Leo.

Arte starts off the series as a dreamer but quickly becomes embroiled in the realities of what it means to work as an artist. She faces losing her family, or worse to her, crawling back with her head bowed. The art world is not interested in her talent, seeing only her gender, which leads her to taking on impossible tasks just to gain a modicum of respect. Then there’s the physically hard work, long hours, and rigorous training of an apprentice which would be the same whether she was a girl or not.

Arte’s serendipitous meeting with Master Leo is sort of the last bit of dumb luck she is willing to accept. The series does a great job of depicting her strength and determination. Sometimes it comes at the detriment of her recognizing the kindness of others. But the kindness of men in a world where women have limited options is something Arte isn’t interested in; she knows she can’t grow or gain respect by relying on it.

I’m continually impressed by Arte and the subtle ways she and the series goes against the grain when it comes to her progress in the world. I do have a nagging fear that love will become a larger part of this story (mostly because Arte has been warned so vehemently against it if she wants to make her own path) but I have hopes that she will put it aside and focus on what she wants her life to be, just as she has so far in the story.

~ kate

The Case of Hana & Alice: The Curse of Anaphylaxis

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hisui_icon_4040 Most of the anime films you are going to see are either based on a manga or the extension of an anime TV series. Many anime are based on myths and historical events. Even most of the Ghibli films are based on popular books. On rare occasion you will even see an original story not based on anything. But interestingly enough one of the rarest origins of animated movies has to be taking a live action series and making it an anime. If anything the opposite is almost always the way things go especially with popular josei manga and anime. It is common enough that we have a section for anime that are being turned into live action series in the monthly Line-Up post. Overall it is not that odd when you think about it. You would be thrown off if someone told you the Sex and the City or Breaking Bad prequel was going to be made as a cartoon.

But despite its relative rarity The Case of Hana & Alice is an instance where the anime is actually a prequel to a live action movie. Actually it is a prequel to a live action movie that is based on a series of short films that were made to be Kit Kat commercials. The unusual path to this anime ripples through all of its production from its combination of CG and rotoscoped animation to its idiosyncratic pacing. Yet in the end it uses all of this to explore a quirky character study of friendship and acceptance.

If anything this seems like a lot of time, effort, and technology to tell a story in animation that might otherwise be far more easily told with far simpler live action techniques. Was all of this worth it?

narutaki_icon_4040 Since The Case of Hana & Alice is a film that acts as a prequel to an already existing live action movie, a live action movie that neither of us have seen, the true test of this story would be whether it could stand on its own.

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Legend of the Galactic Heroes Novel 1: Dawn—The Blonde Brat and the Alcoholic Historian

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hisui_icon_4040 Legend of the Galactic Heroes always seemed like the longest of long shots only behind Sazae-san, Kochikame, and Anpanman in “The League of Anime That Will Never Get Licensed.” It was always the most popular of the League but that only made it the least likely series to be licensed with the biggest fanbase. Your not going to see Kochikame on lists of Anime You Have to See Before You Die but you will find Legend of the Galactic Heroes on quite a few top anime of all time rundowns. But then the Summer of Miracles occurred in 2105 with insane E3 and the crazy licenses at Anime Expo. Two of those little miracles were the licensing of both the Legend of the Galactic Heroes anime and then the novels on top of that. Just getting one of them was unthinkable but both of them was a planetary alignment. While the first box set for the anime has yet to come out the first novel has come out from VIZ.

The thing is the anime is a fairly known quantity. You can find blog posts, podcasts, video reviews, wikis that will tell you all about the series. There are even looks at the board game. We did a whole bunch of posts on the anime ourselves. While it is not that you can’t find any information about the novels, because the info is out there, but overall it is a scant amount of info and mostly just general summaries at best. That has all changed and English fandom can finally read novels and see how they stack up to the original. Will everyone go around saying how much better the books are than the TV series or will this be more of an The Irresponsible Captain Tylor situation?

narutaki_icon_4040 While a lot of anime is based on manga, there are countless titles that have been adapted from books as well. As a person who enjoys reading the book before or after the movie, I’ve often lamented not having the same opportunity when the source material for anime titles is a book. And certainly I never would have imagined having the chance to read the original Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels.

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