Ongoing Investigations: Case #059

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In honor of Yoshiyuki Tomino coming to NYAF there is only one thing to be done. Gundam Sousei has to be reviewed because it was a documentary, and the events were drawn in real time. Alright, that may be an exaggeration. Gundam Sousei is actually an over the top dramatization of the creation of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. This manga does not reflect events as they  happened. It reflects events as they should have happened. All the actors look remarkably like the characters they portray. All the production staff looks like you would imagine them to look. Tomino does not just yell at Toru Furuya to get him into his role. He Bright Slaps the performance right out of him. Shuichi Ikeda does Char so masterfully that when he is recording people see Char Aznable in the booth. Tomino masterfully schemes in ever step of the creation of Mobile Suit Gundam as if he were the Red Comet himself. Things just don’t happen in the manga. They are moved into place by the unalterable hand of destiny as the prophets that are the production staff will it to be. If you are a fan of Gundam and/or epic drama then you should check this manga out.

I picked up this One Piece pin set which is all the emblems that the crew came up with for the flag design. I had seen this set of pins before but when they presented themselves to me on the cheap and in person, I couldn’t resist. Colorful, fun, and unique.

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Char’s Counterattack, An ending three times as fast!

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Ernest Hemingway once said that, “All stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.” And with that in mind we come to the end of the story of Amuro and Char that began in the epic Mobile Suit Gundam. The Universal Century time line and stories would continue on in a variety of fashions including the Gundam F91 movie, the Victory Gundam TV series, and the upcoming Gundam Unicorn OAV. But this is the end of the story that introduced us to the Universal Century. This is the culmination of legendary rivalry of Amuro and Char in the most spectacular fashion possible. Whoever wins shall determine the future of humanity.

Ah, Char’s Counterattack, with a name like that who wouldn’t want to watch this movie? There is a duality to having an ending for a series. On the one hand, it is great because you receive closure as a viewer, perhaps secrets are finally revealed or a love is finally confessed. On the other hand, it can be a bit depressing because the ride is over and you have to say goodbye to characters you have watched for so long. And on either of these fronts, there is a possibility of an unsatisfactory finish. Char’s Counterattack has a big job to do, showing us the last story of Amuro and Char.

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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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