Entries for: August 2010

High School Debut, Volumes 1-8

August 28, 2010

Another of my library finds recently is High School Debut, a thirteen-volume series written by Kazune Kawahara. Serialized in Bessatsu Margaret from 2003 till it ended in July 2008, the series was a best seller in Japan and is apparently being turned into a live action film.  She's also written a one-shot follow up, Eternal Love Debut.  The series was published here in English by Viz Media under its Shojo Beat label, with the final volume released in February of this year.

In middle school, Haruna made her name as the star pitcher of her school's team, along with her best friend and catcher Mami. When she goes to high school, though, her #1 goal is to find a boyfriend, so she drops baseball and begins trying to make herself the perfect catch by reading various magazines and taking well meaning, but bad, advice on how to dress and act. Alas, it doesn't get her even a nibble, so when she meets Yoh, an upperclassman who is said to know what it takes to be popular, she begs him to coach her. At first he refuses, until seeing a tape of her crying over a lose at a baseball game. His one rule, though, is that she is not to fall in love with him. Yeah, any shojo reader knows that means they will end up together, but the story does take a few twists before getting there, including having Haruna fall in love with Yoh's friend Fumi.  Her first love ends with her first heart break, but Yoh is there to support her and eventually she realizes that the only guy she finds interesting anymore is him.  With the rule in place, she tries to pretend things haven't changed, but Yoh with some help from his friends realize what's going on and she confesses. To her delight, though, he feels the same and they begin dating.

Like any good shojo series, the couple has plenty of issues and road blocks to deal with, with both being newbies to "serious" romance, Yoh still having some past issues with an ex, and Haruna having to get some control over her over the top reactions to things.  She is a very fun character, who goes so over board with everything she tries, but is imminently likeable and despite being stronger than most of the guys in the series, she is also very sweet and vulnerable.  Yoh initially seems kind of bland, but as he opens up to Haruna, it seems he really is more shy and uncertain though he is popular and exudes confidence on the outside. He is also blunt and not good at expressing his feelings, but through his relationship with Haruna, he's going to have to learn.  The secondary characters are also interesting, with Yoh's friends having their own unique natures, his sister being a delightful combo of spoiled and selfish brat and sensitive young girl, Yoh's friend Asaoka has some fun moments, and Yoh's ex is the complete opposite, in a good way, of what I expected from the other's descriptions of her. 

The artwork is good and Viz's translation seems fine. Kawarhara seems to use backgrounds sparingly and they are not very detailed, but as a whole the artwork looks good. Thus far, I've read the first eight of the thirteen volumes that comprise the series, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest. It is a fun read. The Young Adult Library Services Association considered it one of 2009's Great Graphic Novels for Teens, and I can certainly see why.

Rating So Far: A

Black Bird, Volumes 1-4

August 19, 2010

In my return to visiting the local library, I've been able to start reading several of the newer series being released by Viz Media under its "Shojo Beat" imprint.  Among them is Black Bird , a series written by Kanoko Sakurakoji (author of Backstage Prince) that has been serialized in Betsucomi since January 2007. It is still an on-going series, with eleven volumes released in Japan so far. Viz has released the first five volumes in English, and my library had the first four so my views will be based on those.  The general premise of Black Bird is not new: teengage girl learns that she has special powers that makes her the target of demons.

Misao is a high school girl who is fairly normal, other than having the "sight" enabling her to see and be teased by ghosts and other supernatural beings. As her sixteenth birthday approaches, she learns that she is a very special person for demons: if a demon drinks her blood, it will give them a long life; if it eats her, it will gain eternal youth, and if the demon marries her, his clan will prosper.  Suffice to say, demons begin coming out in force, seeking one of the three options.  Among them is Kyo, her childhood friend and the head of the tengu (crow) demons.  When they were kids, he promised to return and make her his bride, though Misao is initially disappointed as the seemingly crude pervert he's become, and she had completely forgotten that he is demon. Kyo becomes her protector and her seducer, while Misao tries to work out her feelings and figure out if he actually loves her or just wants her to strengthen his clan like everyone else. Once she does reconcile how she feels,  she isn't ready to become a bride immediately, and both worry about what the effect on her will be. Meanwhile every clan is sending their leaders to try to either kill her or rape her to make her their bride, as do Kyo's enemies.

One of the first thing one may notice about this series is that every cover has Misao wearing a white kimono in a suggestive pose with Kyo, who is in black, and blood splattering her clothings and usually his cheek, though it seems to be in a decreasing amount in subsequent volumes. Despite the blood, the covers are hot, and even with the blood, they are certainly representative of this series. Kyo frequently teases and taunts Misao sexually, particularly after she admits that she still loves him, while Misao alternates between being annoyed by his seemingly one-track mind, and craving it. Misao is hurt repeatedly during the first four volumes by various demons seeking to kill and eat her, or torment Kyo.  To heal her wounds, Kyo licks them, which is apparently both painful and erotic for them both.  Misao can also heal any wounds he sustains by kissing him, only upping the heat even more. 

In some ways, it reminds me of Sensual Phrase, with the heat level and the frequent attacks on Misao. The general plot set up also reminds me quite a bit of Mugen Spiral, but Black Bird also has its own uniqueness with its story. While Misao and Kyo are growing eager to wed, both are also considering things often brushed over in similar series: what will happen to Misao when she becomes a demon's bride, what about leaving her family and friends, and can she actually handle being Kyo's wife.  There is one scene where Kyo kills another demon for Misao, which becomes a test for them both as to whether she will be abel to handle such a life. While she cries quite a bit, she also begins gaining her own inner strength as she realizes that she wants to be Kyo's partner and equal in their relationship, not just the girl he is always protecting.  Kyo is also nicely layered, seeming to play the horny demon, while caring a great deal for Misao and, as we soon learn, went through extrodinary lengths to ensure he could be with her. The "bad guys" include some complex characters whose motivations and loyalties are not always clear.

The series artwork is nicely drawn, with the main characters attractive and distinct. Some of the secondary characters are a little less distinctive from one another, but on the whole it does not detract from the work. Viz's release follows its usual quality standards, and I didn't notice any typos or printing issues. Each volume includes some nice notes in the back to explain the series many cultural references, which I always appreciate. I can certainly see why this series is currently a best seller, both in Japan and here, and won its author the 54th Shogakukan Manga Award.  I hope my library gets volume five soon, as I'm looking forward to reading more of this series.

Rating: A

Stolen Hearts

August 16, 2010

While browsing the new titles picked up by my local library, I stumbled across the title Stolen Hearts by Miku Sakamoto. Checked it out on Amazon.com, and the summary sounded interesting, so I added to my reading list and picked it up on my next trip in.  It was first published in Japan in February 2007, and is apparently still being serialized in Hana to Yume. The fifth Japanese volume was released in June 2010. A romantic-comedy series, it pairs together Shinobu, a cute high school girl who is 4'10 despite her name meaning "big bear", and Koguma, a towering 6'2 classmate who everyone is afraid of due to rumors of his being a vicious fellow.  While drinking some milk, Shinobu accidentally spills some on his bag, which contains a kimono. To pay for damaging it, she agrees to work part-time at his grandmother's kimono shop drumming up business by dressing up in the beautiful garments and going out with Koguma to hand out fliers.

The longer they work together, the more Shinobu realizes that not only have people totally twisted some very innocent stories of his past, but that that he really is a big "bear cub" (the meaning of his name), who is gentle, kind, handsome, and blushes a lot (at least around her). As the become more comfortable with one another, romantic feelings blossom. Some guys kidnap Shinobu, wanting to make a name for themselves by fighting Koguma, but he quickly dispatches all 20 to save her. Afterwards, he breaks off all contact wanting to protect her, but Shinobu isn't about to let their new found feelings disappate and she returns to the kimono shop to tell him she loves him and wants to stay by his side, which he happily (and adorably) accepts.

The first volume packs quite a bit of story into its volume, as Shinobu works to help others see Koguma the way she does, so that he can have more friends at school. Its takes her friends seeming him frantically searching for her after she gets lost at a street festival and his showing his own nature at a school festival before the others in their class seem to start to loose their fear. Along the way, of course, is the developing relationship between the two shy lovers, who endure a bit of good natured torment by Koguma's grandmother and frequent teasing on how tiny she is beside him.

The artwork is nice, with distinctive character designs. Neither the hero nor heroine are drop dead gorgeous, just normal(ish) and cute. They both blush frequently as they feel their way around this unfamiliar territory, and there are lots of scenes with the main characters and others in beautifully illustrated kimonos. Most of the panels have no background scenes, but the few that do are simply drawn with clean lines, and the major components of the items being shown without minute detail. The translation reads fine, and I didn't notice any glaring errors.

On the whole, I quite enjoyed the first volume and hoped to read the second one (my library, alas, does not have it). Shinobu and Koguma are a very cute couple and its fun watching them falling for one another and learning to be  comfortable with one another. Normally, I'd be highly recommending this title to anyone who likes a sweet first romance story, with some light comedy. Indeed, I do recommend giving the first volume or two a read if you can get it from a library. But I cannot give it a full recommendation primarily because it was licensed by CMX Manga. In June 2010, DC Comics, which owned that imprint, shut it down. At this time, it is unknown if any of their manga titles are being transferred to another of DC Comics lines, so there is no way to know for sure that the rest of this series will ever be released in English. And while the first volume certainly got lots of reviews from some well known manga review sites, ANN doesn't even have an entry for it yet and I could not find any sign that even the scanslators (which I do not endorse the use of for licensed titles) have taken notice of it beyond a single listing. So while you might get to enjoy the first and second volumes, you may never get to learn the rest of the story without having to learn Japanese.

Rating: A

Ponyo On The Cliff

August 12, 2010

From Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli, how may very well be the most famous anime maker in the world at this point, Ponyo On A Cliff was released in Japan in 2008, where it quickly became the #1 film of the year, earning over ¥14.9 billion (over $155 million US) and becoming Japan's 8th highest grossing film. No surprise at all that Walt Disney snapped it up, calling it simply Ponyo. Ponyo is a fantasy story that some say is very loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Little Mermaid (didn't see much of that myself). Of course the focus is on the titular character, Ponyo, a little sea creature called a "goldfish", who is one of the many daughters of the sorcerer Fujimoto, who was apparently once human, and the sea goddess Gran Mamare. Fujimoto, who hates humans, is apparently is in charge of raising their many children. He keeps them in a house under the sea in a bubble, taking them for "walks" of a sort. The oldest of the kids, is a curious sort, though, and wants more freedom, so one day she "escapes".

She eventually finds herself near a coast line where she meets a human boy, Sosuke, and becomes his "pet". He names her Ponyo, carries her around in a bucket, feeds her ham (which she apparently loves), and grows quite fond of her. He also realizes she has some unusual powers, such as healing a cut on his finger. Eventually her frantic father retrieves her, but Ponyo wants to stay with Sosuke. Through her determination and with her sisters' help, she escapes again, but her power's go a bit heywire. While she is making her way back to Sosuke, she manages to turn herself into a human, but unknowningly causes a massive storm at sea that eventually causes a lot of damage and threatens Sosuke's home city. Once her mother calms the storm, Ponyo and Sosuke go searching the aftermath for his missing mother (or possibly stepmother...it is never really clear to me).

Disney's DVD release, titled simply Ponyo, includes the original Japanese audio track with subtitles, and an all star English dub cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Cloris Leachman, Tina Fey, Betty White, and Liam Neeson. I have only watched it with the original Japanese, so I can't comment much on the English dub other than to say that the clips I've seen seemed pretty high quality and well-acted. As for how close the dub is actual original script, I would expect it to have mostly minor variations though I would be curious to know how they handled the innocent romance aspect. In general, I'd recommend watching both, if you can, as the English dub cast does do their own spins on the characters. For example, in the original Japanese, Fujimoto is often frantic and seemingly half-insane, while Liam Neeson gives him a calmer, more tiredly cynical air.

Of course, beying a Miyazaki work, the animation is fantastic and the original music is good. The scene of Ponyo running on the waves as she tries to rejoin Sosuke is particularly awesome. Ponyo and Sosuke are fairly simple characters, with the latter being a 5 year old child, and Ponyo seeming to have the same basic mentality. The adult characters are, to me, quite interesting and very complex, but alas they are largely left unexplored. Fujimoto initially comes across as a cruel father, but as the story progresses, it becomes clear he is a good man who is simply trying to do what he thinks it best to protect his unusual children from the world. It is clear that there is some interesting back story to this man, but due to the focus and target audience, it is totally unexplored. We never find out what negative experiences made him turn from humanity and feel he needed to shield his children from ever knowing them, or how he met and apparently made kids with a goddess. And Sosuke's mother seems to have a love/hate thing with her husband, who apparently is gone for long stretches at sea and has a habit of saying he'll be home then not arriving.

Ponyo is very clearly aimed at younger viewers, with the story skipping over some of the more complex elements it could explore, such as the seemingly odd relationship between Fujimoto and Gran Mamare, why Sosuke calls his parents by their first names, Ponyo's seemingly random mix of powers, etc. Though the storm is shown as very serious, no one seems to actually die or really suffer beyond having to relocate for a short time. The main focus seems to be Ponyo's learning to be human and her reactions to new experiences. While the ending attempts to throw out a bit of seriousness, it is definately kept fully in the level appropriate for younger kids, and it is resolved in a very basic, lets leave out any real explanations, fashion one might expect from a story with such a focus. To be sure, it is more complex than we'd see with, say an American film aimed at the same audience, but adult viewers will likely find themselves left with more questions than answers on the story elements.  If you have kids, it is a great one for introducing them anime, but otherwise, at most I'd rate it a rental. While I enjoyed it, it isn't one I'm inclined to watch again.

Rating: B (for adults), A (for kids)

Welcome to the New Animania!

August 9, 2010

I hope you like the new design! All of my old entries, and comments have been moved over, so no data has been lost. I'm working on some new posts and pages even as you read this, so take a peek around and feel free to let me know, politely, what you think.