Archive for the Series Category


Whispered Words, NYCC Friday Report

October 14th, 2013

nycc-logo-2013-loWith Herculean effort, I managed to spend Friday at New York Comic Con. This is the second year in a row life has thrown spectacularly bad timing my way in regards to NYCC. Last year you may remember I was in the hospital, and this year I flew in from Japan the day it began. As a result everyone I spoke to was doing a slow spin as we stood there. ^_^

My main reason for being there was to discuss the upcoming release of Sasamekikoto in English as Whispered Words. To that end, I sat down with Robert McGuire of One Peace Books and GEN Manga.

One Peace was created in 2006. They distribute globally. Recently they brought over the long-running manga Crayon Shin-chan and have the title Black Bard coming soon (which thrills my wife no end.)  Robert says that they were actively looking for a Yuri title and Media Factory, publisher of Black Bard, made it possible for them to get Sasamekikoto. (For those of you not familiar with the series, I have an entire category on the topic, but be warned the anime is no longer available on Crunchyroll and the manga reviews will contain some spoilers.)

Robert confirmed that they’d be publishing the book in three 3-in-1 omnibus volumes. The first omnibus is scheduled for Spring 2014, the next is scheduled for Fall 2014 and the final one for Spring 2015. Editorializing a tad here, I think omnibus format is a great choice for the release. The price point for the pre-order on Amazon is a mere $12.43, and if the last two follow suit, you’ll have all 9 volumes for about $30 over a period of only a year.

When asked about e-formats, Robert replied, “One Peace plans to convert it and distribute to all major digital stores, kindle, nook, apple, etc.” I know I’m really pleased about that. I genuinely like reading comics on my tablet. In many ways, it’s the perfect device for them.

So, good price point, good value, good schedule and multiple formats. If the quality of reproduction is good – and I have every expectation that it and the translation will be – this could set a benchmark for Yuri manga in the west.

Robert and I spent a lot of time talking about being small press publishers and we discussed GEN’s plans a bit. Like ALC, GEN deals directly with the manga artists and does some really interesting doujinshi anthologies and individual volumes. Robert gave me and I read VS Aliens on the way home, which starts off as a kind of creepy story, but ends up as a utterly grin-making cheezeball romance. ^_^  GEN is broadening their focus a bit, as well, with an upcoming BL release, and they are continuing with their anthology, GEN Manga.

Robert assured me that One Peace is interested in other Yuri titles, so we’ll be talking again. (Additionally, we floated the possibility of a promotion here on Okazu, so keep your eyes peeled for that. ^_^) Robert assured me that One Peace intends to publish the whole series, of course, but it’s really up to the readers to make it successful enough to continue. Pre-orders go a long way to making bigger print runs possible, better longevity and more availability. (And let me take the opportunity to thank all of you who ran out and pre-ordered the first volume when I announced it! You are awesome super-fans. ^_^)

Thanks to Robert for taking time out to speak with me about Whispered Words. We’re all looking forward to it. ^_^

Moving on, in their pre-con industry conference, ICV2 reported that, generally speaking, comics sales are stable to good in America and that manga is filling up a good chunk of slots in the best selling comics lists. I urge you to look at the September best seller list. The mix of manga, superhero comics, indie and even comic strips looks…dare I say it?…healthy. Notably, Alison Bechdel’s stunningly fabulous autobiographical comic, Fun Home, is on the list, no doubt driven by news of the musical based on the book.

Walking around NYCC, the top cosplayed anime/manga series was definitely Attack on Titan. Which brings me to…

I had a chance  to speak with Ben Applegate at the Kodansha booth for a very long time. We discussed the good timing of both anime and manga for Attack on Titan being simultaneously available – something that rarely happens in the west –  and how that’s helped the series popularity. But, Ben made the point that the real reason the series is popular is that it is full of great characters – including, he feels, a strong lineup of female characters and androgynous /gender ambivalent character Hanji. I promised him I’d read it and let him know what I think.

I then attended one panel – CBLDF presented Carol Tilley’s discussion of the infighting, rivalries, misrepresentation and general bitchiness that led to Frederic Wertham’s infamous anti-comics screed, Seduction of the Innocents, and the Senate subcommittee hearings that led to the gutting of the American comic industry and the creation of the Comic Code.This panel was fantastic. You can read Carol’s article about her research on BoingBoing and I urge you to do so. Although the Comic Code is history and the CBLDF owns the rights to the name and images, the reputation comics acquired has lingered. In the 50s, the Senate went after publishers. In the 70s and 80s, lawmakers went after comics retailers and now, readers can find themselves targeted. Just in case you think that we’re done with that nonsense, I remind you of the September House hearings on videogame violence and the (non-existent) link to mass shootings.

The rest of my day was taken up with people. I was able to meet briefly with A Case Suitable For Treatment’s Sean Gaffney, Comic Fusion Owner Stacy, and an old friend of mine from high school whom I have not seen for 30 years. That was kind of amazing. ^_^

Had a lovely, dishy discussion about comics with  First Comics publisher Ken Levin, who was responsible for bringing manga classic Lone Wolf and Cub to the USA.

And I met up with and had many discussions with vociferous campaigner for diversity and equality in American superhero comics and in the comics industry, rabid Stephanie Brown fan – and my dear friend –  KyraX2, the infamous Batgirl of San Diego Comic Con. Time with her is always well spent. We debated much about our roles as women with opinions on the Internet and cognitive authorities. She is a much, much nicer person than I am, and wants people to communicate better. I suggest matches to the death. ^_^

My day finished off with an unspeakably good dinner and conversation with Manga Bookshelf‘s Melinda Beasi and Mangablog‘s Brigid Alverson.

For any one of these conversations, it would have been a great day – for all of them, it was a brilliant blur of mad genius. Short as it was, my attendance was highly productive both personally and professionally. I sincerely hope that next year I can make it there for more than one day and hopefully get a few more interviews for you!





Princess Knight Anime, Part 1 – Disk 3 (English)

October 10th, 2013

Disk 3 of Princess Knight has a few notable qualities. For one, Prince Frank steps up his courting of Knight and, as a result, he comes across as rather gay to my 21st century LGBTQ-filtered mind. ^_^ I actually quite like those moments. ^_^

In Episode 14, Knight fights Satan, which makes me laugh on principal, but Satan’s Daughter does not profess her love for Knight, which would have been icing on the queer cake. Oh well. ^_^

But what I really wanted to talk about is Episode 15, in which Knight dresses up as a sheep-looking goat in order to save a bunch of sheep-looking baby goats being raised by a female wolf (with long black feminine hair), in order to protect them from the big bad wolf husband. If that isn’t worth watching, I just don’t know what is.

 

Ratings:

Art – 4
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Baby sheep-goats and their mommy wolf – 10

Overall – 7





Princess Knight Anime, Part 1 – Disk 2 (English)

October 3rd, 2013

After a rather stressful Disk 1, Disk 2 of Princess Knight settles down. Starting with the final episodes of the first disk,  Sapphire – referred to in the dub as “Prince Knight,” or “Knight” for short – sets off on more adventures.  Of course Duralamin and Nylon still slaver over her uncomfortably and their continuing obsession about her sex is always squicky. Knight’s energy is mostly spent protecting her kingdom from being invaded by shark necromancers and fighting wars on behalf of flower kingdoms. Knight even gets a moment to shine as she goes on an epic quest to save her mother from a poisoned flower.

It is during this last adventure where Knight meets the dashing young Prince Frank (Franz of the manga.) Prince Frank thinks young Knight is funny, always trying to outdo him. Something inside of Prince Frank is clearly resonating to Knight – when he gives the younger Prince a flower, Knight says she doesn’t like flowers, but Frank assures him that he will, someday.

Because we know the two of them are destined to be together, it seems to me that the vibe begins right away. While Knight seeks to establish equal status with Frank, Frank sees him as “cute.” Is the storyline not-so-subtlely reinforcing Knight’s femininity (and therefore her inferiority) even as she herself maintains that they are  equals, or am I working *way* too hard as I watch this out of the corner of my eye while I work? ^_^

Without a doubt, I far prefer the adventure stories to the obsessive creeping of Duralamin and Nylon. They are portrayed as so unambiguously mystery play-style evil they might as well have names like Duke DoNoGood and Sir Henchman. It leaves no room at all for the kind of masterful storytelling one associates with Tezuka. We get a glimpse of this when Knight is fighting off an evil plot to start a war and destroy the Prince of Roses, when she rejects Duralamin’s blustery, dangerous patriotism. (Gee, who does this remind me of….oh, wait, every politician ever, right.) Give me a good old fashioned shark invasion any day.

Ratings:

Art – 4
Characters – 7
Story – 7

Overall – 7





Ghost in the Shell: Arise – Border 1 (English)

October 2nd, 2013

GitSAriseboxHaving watched Ghost in the Shell since it first arrived on western shores I, like so many other fans, have had a few questions about Major Kusanagi. Who is she? How did she get a fully cyborg body, where did she come from, what her family was like…these all seem pretty reasonable questions, when you think about it.

Ghost in the Shell: Arise 01: Ghost Pain answers these questions – without actually removing much of the mystery behind Kusanagi. Although we now know how she meets Aramaki, Batou, Paz and Togusa, there’s still way more questions than answers we have about her life. With luck, none of them will be addressed in future episodes. ^_^

The main strength in Arise, is that someone with little to no knowledge of the Ghost in the Shell franchise – and the ability to flow with a cyberpunk-y, slightly non-linear narrative – will have no trouble following this story. (Completely unlike Innocence, for instance, which makes little sense if you have not seen at least some of the other GitS franchise.) You do not need to know Kusanagi Motoko – Arise will introduce more about her than we have had in all the previous series.

Of interest to me was Motoko’s superior, Kurutsu, who was a character design that could only exist in anime. Long yanki-style skirt over black leather pants, no bra, shirt open to the navel…what military is this again?  I had very much hoped that she and Motoko would end up fighting, because Kurutsu so wore the look of “mentor gone bad.”

The Japan Collector’s Edition contained Episode 01 on Blu-Ray,  a few frames of “film” of Batou and a booklet with commentary and character designs.  The episode comes in just shy of an hour so whether you feel its expensive, will depend on how you feel about paying for your anime.

The plot is convoluted, and has obligatory government corruption, brain hacking and a fair amount of fanservice, so if looking at Kusanagi in underwear or naked is high on your list, bonus points for you. It is a solid OVA (OBDA, maybe, since it’s a Blu-ray?) for GitS.  I’m definitely looking forward to Ghost in the Shell: Arise – Border 2.

Ratings:

Art – 9 Top notch, except in a few scenes. Faces in 3/4 profile still seem to be the most challenging for animators.
Story – 8
Characters – 7 Comfy, rather than good
Yuri – 0 (I was really hoping for something between Kusani and Kurutsu, sad face)
Service – 6

Overall – 8

My very very since thanks to  an anonymous Okazu hero for sponsoring today’s  review! It was so much appreciated  – and enjoyed! It would be even better if you tell me who you are, so I can thank you.





Hayate x Blade Manga, Volume 18 (はやてｘブレード)

October 1st, 2013

In an industry filled with series prematurely ending, or fading out after hanging around just slightly too long, or long-lived series sputtering to an end a decade after the readers have moved on, it’s not often we’re around to see a well-told story come to a well-told end. It’s even rarer to face the end of a beloved series without tears and accompanying whimpers of self-pitying whining. ^_^ Here we are at Hayate x Blade, Volume 18. The End.

The Black Group has declared their purpose – they will bring Tenchi Gakuen to its knees by snatching all of the students. Unfortunately for them, those same students have developed tough muscles and thick brains in their time at Tenchi and have no intention of going down without a fight.

And while the Black Group fighters meet their matches all around the school, Hayate faces Maki, while Ayana faces her inner demons and fights Yukari. It’s not as emotionally crushing as it might have been, since Yukari has set the past aside and encourages Ayana to let go of hers. Eventually they are able to battle each other with everything they have.

Hayate and Ayana…lose their matches.

Hitsugi brings the Black Group encroachment to an end, by unmasking the leader of the enemy – Hajime is actually her cousin. And Hitsugi comes to a conclusion.

Her time as Chair of Tenchi has been fun, she tells the gathered students, but she wants to return to a more normal life. To that end, she is stepping down as Chair of the school and President of the Student Council. Furthermore, she’s splitting the student body into 2 dorms  – one headed by Hajime, the other by Kurea (whose punishment will never end, seemingly.) Sword-bearing students will still be able to fight, but the rules (and I’m guessing, the uniforms) will change. In two months, students will need to decide which dorm they will align themselves with. I’ve been guessing which pairs will go where since I read this the first time. ^_^

All the while this is going on, Hayate is visiting Tanpopo Garden, to present Chiharu with the school’s deed and to announce that she and Ayana have been awarded A rank.

The series comes to an end officially as Shizuku rings the gong, announcing the next round of Hoshitori.

The epilogue consists of Hayate (and Ayana) handing out Shigeru Family cat mascots to willing and unwilling (and confused, poor Kei,) recipients, as the students consider which dorm they will join.The volume ends with Hitsugi and Shizuku considering their mascots, while everyone else heads out to practice, as they all wait to use their swords in the Hoshitori once again.

I would write something really touching and emotional right about now, however I have already read the prologue of the new series and it begins with a visual gag that is spit-take inducing – it is this gag that is used as the promo for the prologue and now I’m laughing again.

So long Hayate x Blade! It’s been fun.

Welcome Hayate x Blade 2!  We look forward to meeting you.

Rating:

Art – 9
Story – 10
Characters – 9
Yuri – 0
Service – 0

Overall –  10

Thank you, Hayashiya-sensei, for being one of the best storytellers in manga. ^_^