Gatcha Gatcha 1-4

Yuri is a cheerful girl who believes the best of everyone, and especially in love. So obviously, she's taken advantage of by tons of losers from drug addicts to domestic abusers. Motoko is a tall, beauty, the Madonna of the school. So obviously, she eats squid jerky, beats the crap out of half of the guys she encounters, and is involved in an incestous lesbian love triangle.

OK, maybe not obviously. But that's what makes Gatcha Gatcha so fun. Rounding out the cast is Yabe, Yuri's object de drool of the day, who has a connection to Motoko, Hirao, a nice guy in the internet sense, and Sekine,a 'maidenly boy' who Motoko says "is MY bitch". This is the sort of ensemble in which you don't need a deep plot, jut let them bounce off of each other, but there is a plot here- mostly involving Motoko's soap operaesque past.

It's good fun with many twists, turns, and stabbings, but I'd like to know more about Yuri. Why is she almost suicidally devoted to love? Is it just her lack of visible parents or is there some horror in her past that we don't know about yet?

It seems that volume 5 will be dealing with Motoko's past as well, so we may or may not find out.

What I Think About Bunny Drop vol 3

I enjoyed it. (link because it's $7 at amazon for some reason) At first, I was worried that the plot wouldn't be advanced, since the story goes off into tangents about say, Daikichi's coworker, but luckily, it slips back into place, developing the relationships between Kouki and Rin, Daikichi and Masako. I find the tension between Daikichi and Masako interesting. Daikichi doesn't seem to understand how Masako could leave her child in his grandfather's care, but it seems evident to the reader or at least to me. I'm not sure I could give up my dreams and struggle for the sake of someone else. She was pressured into keeping Rin, and had some resentment over that, but she always saw how grandpa raised her well and faithfully, so she could rest easy that way. She remarked that how Daikichi and grandpa act around Rin was the same. Even if she feels guilt or sadness, she knows her child is well taken care of. She may bury herself in work, but I don't think she deserves the snap judgment Daikichi had of her in volume 2.

Of course, maybe he feels guilty about taking a child from his mother(he mentions this in volume 2) and feels that he has to demonize Masako for now. I'm sure his relationship with Rin will soon be so strong that he can accept her mother as well.

Oresama Teacher and Eensy Weensy Monster

Oresama Teacher bothers me. There's a lot of cookie cutter "girl meets this jerk! Oh, but she really knows him! Crap! She's bumped into him at school" scenes in this first volume. Then again, this could be pretty good. Mafuyu is...an idiot. And Hayasaka is just as bad. Just as long as they don't go overboard on Mafuyu's luurve for Takaomi, this could be good fun.

Eensy Weensy Monster is of course nothing like Tsuda's masterpiece Kare Kano. What really hamstrings this series is its length. Nanoha has some interesting friends, and I'd like to see more of them, and the relationship between Hazuki and Nanoha's brother could also be developed more as well. The monster metaphor gets tedious even within these two short volumes, but I'd like to see a little more development of say, Nanoha's inferority complex. I can't complain too much, I only bought this because I like to look at Tsuda's art.

Black Bird 7 and Gakuen Alice 15

Black Bird is a manga that gives you blue balls, even if you have no balls. Misao and Kyo continue to not have sex for this entire book. As everyone predicted, nothing occurs to break the status quo. (Last book it was WILL KYO HAVE SEX WITH SOME DRAGON DUDE'S SISTER. We all knew he wouldn't. He didn't.) This book it's WILL KYO HAVE SEX WITH MISAO SO HE CAN DEFEAT SOME DUDE?! (No. He won't. I bet Kyo and Misao *never* have sex.) Really, this book's a big tease. They could string this out forever with more SHOCKING THINGS THAT WON'T HAPPEN, and I worry they will.

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Gakuen Alice 15 stops our hope that the plot will be advanced cold with a lot of wacky hijinks and boring romance. I counted about 5 pages in which the plot advanced(OK, I didn't literally count). I want to know way more about why there's a horrible child abusing school and way way way less about how Mikan bravely holds up under the fact that some people she doesn't know believe rumors about her. Really, kid, your life is in danger. Extremely dangerous and crazy people have their eye on you. They have superhuman powers. Let's worry more about that, and less about whether you can win Miss Popularity,ok?

This Month's Afterschool Charisma

Is chapter 19. and it is an awesome chapter full of violence and revelations. Clones fight clones, the nature of destiny is debated, and Shiro's face appears everywhere. Rockswell continues to be a psychopath, and the story is told in no-nonsense grids, reminiscent of American comics. I think volume 3 is the strongest part of Afterschool Charisma so far as the various hints being thrown around finally are paying off.

ETA: I'm sort of weirded out by those who expect this to be a comedy. Yes, Clone High was a comedy, and it was hilarious. But it's not like all stories on this theme are supposed to be comedies.

In Defense of Afterschool Charisma

I have to admit that I disagree with this review of Afterschool Charisma. The entire point of the manga is that in a different environment, just having the same genetics as someone great won't make you great. Without a kingdom to rule or armies to command, a clone of Elizabeth or Napoleon is just a regular teenager with the equivalent of a big brother whose shoes they can never fill. Volume 2 is mostly a set up for the developments of volume 3( see here under 'volume 3') The expo and the pressure it exerts on the clones is introduced,and most of this volume's scenes are stolen by the quirkily insane Rockswell, who doesn't think much of clones, and his little tag along Pandora. The belief of the elite that clones are just tools for publicity or power are shown well in the party scenes of the expo.

To avoid spoiling volume 3, let's just say that you'll be glad to know the backstory about almighty dolly and about the mental fragility of many of the clones when the bullets start flying.

About the actual book, it's still well made, and the fanservice is appealing without being too distracting, but I wish there were more extra mini comics. Maybe in volume 3's print version.

Lady Kanako

I've been reading the Secret Notes of Lady Kanako, as I'm probably one of the only people to buy a manga after seeing it get positive reviews online. It's an amusing little collection of one shots in which our cynical heroine starts off by noting that she's just transferred to a new school, and how she doesn't want to get involved with people. Inevitably, she gets involved to amusing results. By the fifth story, I started to wonder why her parents let her transfer to a different school every few months and the fact that Tsubaki keeps showing up becomes increasingly hard to believe. It's fun, but I'd rather have a continuing plot in the second volume. Maybe stay at the same school for two chapters, and see how Kanako's schemes play out in more depth?

ETA: I thought about how the world of Lady Kanako is a set piece like the typical 'cheerleaders and jocks teen movie high school', and also, about how Tokyopop needs to fricking edit, since I counted at least 5 typos, and these books are MORE expensive than the higher quality Viz books. Stop wasting money on crap no one likes and up your quality Tokyopop.

The Last of the New Year's Haul- Alice in the Country of Hearts

Today I read the last of my big holiday haul- Alice in the Country of Hearts 2 and 3. While I wish there were slightly fewer bishies, and more female characters, but then again, harems are popular, so we'll end up with that sort of imbalance, although too much focus on romance gets dull. Luckily, the book doesn't get too bogged down in BISHIES and FUNNAY and actually moves the plot along a bit. Personally, I hope that Alice never ends up with any of the stalker sociopaths that are presented as possible matches in this book. Blood Dupre and Peter White are the ones I'm least keen on, but there are no good options for Alice here. Alice is my favorite character- smart and a little wry.

The Wizard of Oz and Sand Chronicles

I finally treated myself by buying the Wizard of Oz graphic novel. I don't have much to say about it. The beautiful art, the lovely storyline(yes, the dialogue is a bit stilted at points) all make me say you should go out and buy this and recommend it to all the libraries in your area. It's the sort of thing American comics needs- fantastic family stories.

I was not as impressed with Sand Chronicles vol 10. The time capsule story has some moments, and the school play was cute, but I wanted to see more of characters like Shika, Fuji, even Fuji and Shika's mom. The little story at the end with Chi's birth was good. I'm a Sand Chronicles completist, though, and it's nice to have them all, even if this volume of side stories isn't as good as Volume 9, which gave us more insight into what had come before the main story. The end of this volume was a bit sentimental for me. One of the things I liked about the series are the bits and pieces where maybe everything didn't turn out happily, but everyone was alright- such as the year 26 stories for Ann. Going back to an old fashioned moral seems a bit off after that.

Seiho 3 and Ceres

I recently read all of Ceres: Celestrial Legend, and really, think that Viz should give it the VizBig treatment. It's one of those dark plotty manga that I adore so much. Plot summary: On her 16th birthday, Aya learns that she has a dark side- a 'celestial maiden' named Ceres who is pissed about the theft of her 'celestial robes'. It takes all of Aya's cunning to keep Ceres from killing everyone she loves and keep one step ahead of her own family, which is desperate to kill or capture her. There's the requisite mooning over boring mysterious guy, but even that is pulled into the plot in a way that seems seamless and not forced at all.

Aya is my favorite character- gutsy and devoted to the ones she loves. I also like Yuhi, who despite playing second fiddle to boring mysterious Touya, manages to be gutsy and bold. This series, I should warn you, has much violence and some near rape scenes. There are some romantic sex scenes in which you can't really see anything, but some may be annoyed with the OMG, WE'RE DOING IT BECAUSE WE'RE SO IN LUUUURVE stuff. Series like this are why I'm always confused when people talk about shoujo being sweet. We don't generally think of shonen as sweet, even with a million Cute Girls: No Plot series around. In fact, when I read shoujo, I am not ever surprised if I end up reading about child abuse, rapist and rapee in love, or supernatrual forces tearing someone's body apart. I guess some people are socialized to think 'girl=sweet' and so they think shoujo is sweet, despite tons of evidence to the contrary.

I've been reading Seiho vol 3, which is a send up of some shoujo tropes. In this volume, there is "girl dresses up as guy" and "yaoi fan girl". The girl dresses up as guy story is fairly funny, and Miyagi is pretty genre savvy. The yaoi fan girl story is typical, but elicited some chuckles. I personally don't think having two girls named Erika in the same country is too big of a coincidence, but then again "Erica' is a common name here, so it's not shocking to me. The Nogami and Fuku story apparently was changed(author's side note). I bet the original ending was very cynical, and more funny than the sappy ending here, but I'm more of a fan of Nogami's assholeness than of romance.

Manga Criticism and Skip Beat 22

The dynamic in the thread is interesting- a woman states that some may not want to deal with mansplainers, stalkers and other wackos while discussing manga, and some dude is like OMG, YOU'RE OVERREACTING!

Now, personally, I don't intellectually criticize manga because really, as a person who has no idea about the cultural context of manga, and who while I do sometimes enjoy vague 'intellectual' grumblings, I'm not interested enough to put much effort into creating them. Even if I wrote a 3000 word essay about the similarities between Tohru and Akito and how that contrast exemplifies the theme of redemption in Fruits Basket, really, is that even necessary?

I think we just have our own fan culture and folks need to try to understand it before they comment on it. For example, most of us rely on translations, so even if the stories are 30 years old, many of us have not read them- we have to rely on whether we can find either illegal translations or the good will of a company. Even manga that was released in the early 00s can be difficult to find in translation, and the conversations of people who read the official volumes only versus those who don't can diverge rather widely due to the time lag in between.

Instead of going on and on about theory, I'll review Skip Beat volume 22. I'm glad that we've gotten back to what's interesting in this manga- Kyoko's growth as an actress. Ren's acting lessons of course are shoehorned in here for Ren/Kyoko fans, but luckily, that doesn't detract much from Kyoko's amazing turnaround. I also liked how Chidori represents one possible future for Kyoko that she has avoided using her talent, and her luck. I was slightly surprised that Kyoko was able to apply makeup so well due to the fact she doesn't usually use it, but then again, that's within supension of disbelief. Overall, a satisfactory volume.

Ouran Host Club 15

This volume finally gets down to the romance that Haruhi/Tamaki fans have been wanting. It's sweet and a little silly as befits the couple. Fans of the twins individuating will also be pleased with the funny love triangle competition that Hikaru and Tamaki are in, even though we all know who will win. Also, time seems to be moving forward in a big way- after several springs where time was ignored in the Ouran-verse, finally, the third years are graduating. Luckily, this gives us more scenes in which Hunny shows more personality than just CUTE! BUNNY! BUNNY! and Mori shows his emotions nonverbally, but loudly.

So this volume was worth it. I like the light touch of this series. Now, it is really difficult to create a comedy series that is long running and yet does not get old. Gags have a life time, and that lifetime is short. Filler episodes, such as the Alice in Wonderland chapter we saw much earlier in the series, are usually used to lengthen a series, but more than one filler story a volume is too much for me. Luckily, Hatori manages to put in enough plot teasers to keep me reading, and finally, some of these are starting to bear fruit.

I also like how the theme of the strong friendship within the club wasn't abandoned just because romantic love was revealed. I get the feeling that in the future, the host club members will continue to be friends, even as they pair off, even as they go to different majors in college, even as they become business partners or rivals, and that's a beautiful thing to express in manga.

Zot! and this month's Afterschool Charisma.

I bought Zot! on impulse. I was looking for manga at the ol' Barnes and Nobles, and wandered over to the American comics side. I hadn't found anything, and was going to wander away when I looked up. I thought I saw something on the top shelf. It was Zot!

Anyway, I've read it through already, and I loved it, but had a feeling that something was missing. That themes such as the historylessness of Zot's world or the slow demise of Jenny's parent's marriage, and Butch's change from a cheerful participant in the adventures(OK, often in the shape of a monkey, but still) to drinking a little too much, and not really being part of the gang anymore seem hinted at, but not really fully explored.

But then I realized something. This collection is less than 600 pages. That is slightly less than 3 volumes of manga. When I realized that, I'm now extremely impressed that Scott McCloud managed to create such a deep and moving story in so little space.

Now for this month's Afterschool Charisma. The expo is finally here! And Ikkuyu(whose background is finally explained here) talks about an interesting point- the fact that the original people acheived what they did in very specific environments and times. Genetics are only a small part of who people are. This chapter is also a good set up for a wham chapter next month(I hope it's not too delayed with the holidays coming up)

Seiho Boys School

I got Seiho Boys School vol 2 and the Unseen Academicals at Borders for $10 total. Seiho Boys School continued to be fairly interesting- less crude humor this time, but the bittersweet romance, and women with very unique personalities continued, and so I'll continue to get this. BTW: I liked the side bar about the 'foreigner' with the kanji tattoo.

People who like Japanese art are often accused of idealizing Japan. Now, I don't idealize Japan, and wouldn't like to go there, but manga is global culture, like Spiderman, or Harry Potter.

By The Way

Tokyopop wastes more money on stuff no one likes, and the mystery of why Princess Ai keeps coming out is solved.

BTW: Gakuen Alice vol 13 avoids doing something wacky like advancing the plot. But Gakuen Alice 14 sounds like it might actually advance the plot. Oddly, these volumes are coming out fairly quickly- it seems like it'd be 2 months between volumes instead of 3 or 4.

Also, Slam Dunk has very appealing art.

Black Bird Vol 6 wasn't that Bad

I was thinking of dropping it after vol 5, but luckily, this volume doesn't have as much sappy romance and crap about how much Misao and Kyo luuuuuurve each other, and the plot actually advances. Backstory is revealed! I would like to hear more about the family dynamics of Kyo's evil demonic family and much much less about lurve. You two are an official couple- we don't need to hear about their lurve every five minutes. If they must go on about their deep and fated love, they should do it only when there is random nudity. Of course we know that the big OMG! WILL KYO SLEEP WITH SOMEONE ELSE?! cliffhanger will not in fact occur, and even the author is bored with her boring boring covers. So it's a mixed bag, but it's enough to keep me reading.

Why Gakuen Alice is a Terrible Manga and Why I'll Keep Getting It

Gakuen Alice is a terrible manga- a mishmash of a manga which can't decide whether it wants to be a fun magic school manga, or an angsty chronicle of the school de child abuse. It also has way too much creepy pre teen romance in it. We get way too many wacky hijinks involving decorating Christmas trees, and way too little about important things such as say, someone's dead[not literally] little sister recovering from her amnesia and blindness! The dramatic arcs often seem rushed, despite there being plenty of time for filler stories. And there's the age issue. Now, I give a lot of leeway to manga about realism. However, speeches about how we're all going to protect the future together are usually not common among the tween set, so it's best to confine them to once every two volumes. The effect gets lost when it's pulled out too often- this is why these speeches are usually limited to the most dramatic volumes in other manga.

Not to mention, romance with ten year olds is hard, I know. There are many limitations. One of the limitations is that ten year olds tend to still be in the 'ew cooties' stage- i.e. making out isn't likely, nor are conversations about your rival in love's taste in women. Really, I can't let that slide!

But why will I keep getting such a terrible manga? Well, I just can't give up on learning what happens, and even though it's the sort of story that throws everything that appeals to the audience in- 'hey! let's add some androgynous guys, little kids, obsessive guys who appear nice but have a hidden dark side, cross dressing, etc,etc in there!", there still is potential for the story to lose its scattered desire to appeal to everyone at once, and focus more on whether it wants to be a comedy, a drama or even, urgh, a romance.

*Note: I'm on American fantime, and have only read up to vol. 12.

This Month's Afterschool Charisma

Finally! Afterschool Charisma! There's some nice romantic interludes here, setting up Napoleon/Joan of Arc and Rasputin/Himiko, and Shiro's memories of his father are a nice touch too- drawing us into the drama of Shiro's curiosity about his real origins.

Rockswell continues to be a mystery. Why is he the chairman of a school for clones if he has such strong anti clone prejudice? I hope this manga gets into more about the reasoning for the hatred of clones, and the real vision behind the clone research teams. So many mysteries...

Black Bird Again

In Black Bird volume 5, Misao still gushes about her OMG LOVE instead of developing a personality, what could have been an interesting glimpse of the demon world is wasted, and Misao still doesn't seem to get that demons are in fact not humans with human morality! Demons are at best horrible horrible people, and at worst, they are killy mc rapey! I'd like a rendition of this sort of story with less OMG, TRUE LOVE EVEN IF WE HAVE TO WADE ACROSS A FIELD OF CARNAGE! and more about how this is truly a horror story. Horrific creatures are seeking to rape and kill you, and you only have the protection of a dubious 'boyfriend' who you only have his word and some vague childhood memories to rely on. What a horribly scary story!

BTW: Maybe I really should have gotten Twin Spica 2 instead. Now, while that is a story with the supernatural[I mean, a ghost follows a girl around and gives her advice] it's not so horrifying.

Skip Beat vol 21 and Welcome to the NHK

Skip Beat vol 21 is out, and I am so glad that we're getting back into things I actually care about i.e. Kyoko's acting career, and out of things I don't care about i.e. the problems of minor side characters. There is some more mucking around with Ren, and his pitch perfect manipulation of Kyoko makes him slightly more interesting than usual, but he's still a dull, limp love interest. I like the focus on Kyoko's ingrained body language, which has been such an assest so far[ see Mio, and the acting battle with Ruri] but is now a detriment. There is now yet another character being introduced- I like her dark side, but I think that this manga does not need more side characters.

I also read volumes 1-4 of Welcome to the NHK. As a fan of the anime, I mostly thought about how they had toned down things a lot for the anime. There's way too much loli, but I like how Misaki has more of an edge here. Less dere dere and more full on crazy. The fourth anime covers through the end of the anime, so I'll have to read the last 4 to really see the rest of the story.