Category: Manga

 

By Ako Yutenji (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 1-59532-519-0

The eponymous anti-hero of this series is the greatest thief in the World, and his capture is a major achievement. So what possible crisis could induce the government to release him? When arrested he had in his possession the legendary and mystical “Eight Great Treasures” which the authorities gratefully reclaimed. Now after a mere three months in prison, the Treasures have once again been stolen and Liling-Po is possibly the only person who can find them again.

For reasons of his own, the master thief accepts the proposition and eagerly prepares for the near-impossible task ahead of him. Naturally, as a professional thief, Po cannot be trusted, and in an effort to ensure that the Poacher keeps to his new role of Game-keeper, he is assigned two assistants, a scholar – Mei-Toku – and a warrior, Bu-Cho, with whom he must wander the medieval landscape, ever seeking and encountering new villains and old friends, whilst trying to accommodate his own new secret agenda. This volume contains not only the origin adventure but also the tale of the first two Treasures, a necklace and a piece of artwork.

The theme of secrets and subterfuge is thoroughly explored as the various characters, all initially hostile to each other, are forced to bond to further their quest, although whether there will ever be full trust or friendship between them is always doubtful when the goal is the ownership of objects that can grant a persons every wish.

The characters are all introspective, moody, determined and disturbingly, preternaturally beautiful in the manner of heroes in Shojo (or story for girls) manga, and often this wistful androgyny intrudes into the basic story-telling, whilst another minor quibble is the sheer amount of art-work obscuring word-bubbles in this book, not a thing I ever expected to say about a manga tale.

All in all, though this is an enjoyable, if slow-paced tale that combines crime-caper, historical adventure and buddy yarn to good effect.

© 1997, 2005 Ako Yutenji.
English script © 2005 Tokyopop Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Keith Giffen & Benjamin Roman (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59532-831-9

Are you sick? Are you depraved, demented or just plain ‘not right’? Then it’s not necessary – but it won’t hurt either – if you pick up this darkly wicked little tome to reaffirm your skewed view of reality.

Every Halloween, Finch, Moochie, Pig Pig, Li’l Bith, Mush and the rest get together for their annual sugar-coated loot-fest. But this year it’s all botched up ’cause the very first old lady just gave them fruit, and everyone knows if you don’t get candy right from the start it’s nothing but rubbish all evening. Drastic steps have to be taken, or else this Halloween is ruined! Along the way meet also that friendly old policeman, the vicious, bullying older kids and that really stacked chick who lives next door – see their ultimate fates!

Comics veteran Giffen flexes his comedy – and bad taste – muscles in an irresistible confection that would win nodding approval from Charles Addams and the producers of Shaun of the Dead. The jovial malice is uniquely captured by the totally enchanting art of Benjamin Roman, whose inexplicably charming grotesques are the stuff of any animation studio’s dreams. Toys based on these sick puppies will sell and sell and sell.

If you have no fear of the dark, if you love a gross joke, and especially if you don’t care what your immediate family or the clergy think of you, then you really want to read this book.

© 2005 Keith Giffin & Benjamin Roman. All Rights Reserved.

By Kosuke Fujishima (Titan Books)
ISBN 1-84576-504-4

This is a fine example of a Japanese story genre which uses a fantasy framework and derives humour from embarrassment and loss of conformity. Nerdy science student Keiichi Morisato dials a wrong number one night and connects to the Goddess Technical Help Line. Beautiful and powerful Belldandy materialises in his room, offering him one wish, and he geekily asks that she never leave him. This traps her on Earth, and in fact she is unable to move too far from his physical proximity.

There’s plenty of scope for comedy when a powerful female seemingly dotes on an average male, and many jokes centre on her inability to part from him, increasingly disrupting his life. Think of it as a modern take on Bewitched or I Dream of Genie, especially since there’s a romance growing that both are incapable of admitting to.

The third volume settles into a formulaic pattern as the loons of his college Society, and Belldandy’s mischievous sister Urd continue to make life even more unpalatable for our nerd and his dream girl. The episodes include such traumas as final exams, being forcibly dressed in girls clothing – Keichii, that is – gambling, truth or consequences games, and even Go-Kart racing against the hateful Americans.

The biggest addition to the cast is the rich and sleazy Toshiyuki Aoshima, a serial lecher who decides that he must have Belldandy at any cost. Throw in the usual band of rivals, insane teachers and interfering entities and there’s still plenty of slap-stick fun to be found in this bright and breezy manga classic.

© 2007 Kosuke Fujishima. All Rights Reserved.
English language translation © 2007 Dark Horse Comics, Inc.

 

By Svetlana Chmakova (Tokyopop)
ISBN 1598161296

Lots of people have been to fantasy collector shows and events. Some have even been spotted at that utter zenith of localised naffness and insanity that is the comic-convention. Seldom have the bizarre passions and obsessively tunnel-visioned peccadilloes of such a very peculiar band of people been better captured than in this oddly charming tale from Canada-based Russian émigré Svetlana Chmakova.

With a deceptively light touch and a killer reservoir of sharp one-liners and come-backs, she tells the tale of Christie, a young girl at her first anime/comic convention with her boyfriend, and the manga comic they have created together. Take it from an old lag at these things, the combination of wonder, fascination, disappointment and vertiginous bewilderment portrayed here is spot on – if a trifle toned down. No one who has never actually attended a con would believe what can really happen.

Among the personal heroes, old friends and total weirdoes running wild like a self-contained goblin-horde let loose for a whole weekend in a localised Halloween, is a young man who Christie thinks is obnoxious, brash, rude, cool, good-looking and an increasingly better-seeming prospect than the boyfriend she brought with her, whose feet of clay are becoming more obvious as the hours and minutes unfold. Christie’s dilemmas compound as she meets her all-time manga hero and has to face some unpleasant facets of her own character.

Can this week-end change her life? Should she compromise long-time relationships for people that will be thousands of miles away again in mere hours, or should she put it all on the line and let the cards fall where they may? Whatever happens, it’s a whole year until the next convention, but since this a charmingly addictive slice of fun, I’m hoping the next volume will be available a good deal sooner than that.

© 2005 Svetlana Chmakova and Tokyopop Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Kazuichi Hanawa (Fanfare/ Ponent Mon)
ISBN 8493340901

Something of an obscure recommendation, this, but I wanted to add some different Manga, as I’m a little burned out with big eyes, big explosions, and big hair at the moment.

Doing Time doesn’t fall into any perceived Western understanding of Japanese comics. For a start it’s an autobiography/documentary. The creator served three years in prison for owning replica guns, which seems pretty stern to me but Mr. Hanawa clearly feels he deserved every moment of it. It’s a journal along the lines of Samuel Pepys with disquietingly intimate revelations calmly rolled out at every available juncture. It’s a shining insight into the psychology of the Japanese culture and mind set.

The thoughts here portrayed couldn’t come from any other nationality. Mr. Hanawa constantly and genuinely bemoans the quality and quantity of the food. It’s too good for the likes of him.

“Is it right for us to live so well in spite of having perpetrated such misdeeds?” he asks. The attention to detail almost makes this a cookbook. The narrative structure is so fluid that all one comes away with is a fine pattern of detail and no big picture.

I have to admit that I was bewildered and captivated in equal measure with this collection of strips drawn with astounding veracity and authenticity (Japanese prisons apparently allow no records of any sort – even drawings – to be kept by inmates and all the work was produced from memory) but if you’re of an adventurous mien this may brighten your jaded day.

© 2000, 2004 Kaziuchi Hanawa & Ponent Mon

 

By Sang-Sun Park (Tokyopop)
ISBN 1-84576-452-8

This is the tale of Shem, Hamu and Japheth, three magical sisters from another dimension who have a mission to save the Earth. With their individual spirit totems they must rescue the last surviving members of endangered or nigh-extinct animal species and remove them to a wondrous and improbable Ark. The matter is complicated by the fact that they can communicate with the souls of all animals, and quite frankly, they’re often as screwed up and obnoxious as human beings.

Their omnipotent Lord has charged them with this mission, as each saved species will contribute to the overall salvation of the planet and the universe. To further this divine plan he has placed the sisters in an average Earth school so that they can better understand the world. Naturally this leads to lots of joy and embarrassment of the sort beloved by school-aged manga fans everywhere, but there is also an ever present danger from an unknown enemy, and the sisters’ mundane travails are compounded by sinister counter-agents from their home dimension intent on letting – or helping – Earth die!

This Shojo manga – or story for girls – is a breezy wheeze that is a blend of Powerpuff Girls and Charmed with lots of beautiful creatures, humanoid and otherwise, being clever and dramatic by turns. Although probably not to everyone’s taste the combination of slapstick and schooldays humour, plus the uplifting sentiment and ecological message of this magical romance is quite likely to carry the most cynical reader along for the ride.

© 2005 Sang-Sun Park and Tokyopop K.K. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Tow Nakazaki (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 1-59532-130-6

This irreverent, genre-bending western pastiche is a delightful romp if you don’t worry too much about history or logic, which sees young girl Mingchao leave her mountaintop shack and wild-west roots for an entertainment career in Hollywood. With her she takes the fantastic Eto Gun built by her grandfather that fires the spirits of the (Japanese) Zodiac. These fantastic bullets manifest in the form of animate animal ghosts.

Naturally it takes a while to discover how it works – by dipping the gun in the “essence” of the totem animal, such as food or clothing made from them or more often as not their droppings – and often the trouble she inevitably finds herself in is best dealt with by her innate feistiness and ingenuity. Along the way she has been befriended by a mysterious, young and good-looking “Preacher-Man” named Baskerville.

As they make their way to California they encounter many of the icons of the untamed bad-lands such as cowed townsfolk, villainous outlaws, evil cattle-barons, cows, ornery ol’ coots, cow-punchers, distressed widow-wimmin’, cows…

This light-hearted meander through the iconography of a million cowboy movies is fast paced, occasionally saucy and often laugh-out-loud funny, and has the added benefit of the freshness afforded by seeing these old clichés through fresher, oriental, eyes. This volume also includes a number of themed puzzle pages for anyone wanting to take a deeper dip into the legend.

© 1998, 2005 Tow Nakazaki. All Rights Reserved.
English script © 2005 Tokyopop Inc.

 

By Yong-su Hwang & Kyung-il Yang (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 1-59532-329-5

This fast-paced and uproariously irreverent fantasy tells the tale of an unlikely alliance between Heaven, Earth and Hell in the face of a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the natural order of the universe.

Soma is an uncouth and vulgar human warrior who is captured whilst breaking into Paradise and accused of stealing the legendary Blade of Heaven. He is “befriended” by the beautiful and seemingly ingenuous Princess Aroomee (who is desperate to escape the cloying dullness of the Heavenly Court) and they are sent back to Earth to recover the missing sword, which is vital to the security of the sky-realm. The King of Heaven, being a dutiful parent, also sends the ancient and powerful elemental General Winter with them as a chaperone.

On Earth, the mysterious demon fighter Makumrang is pursued by his father’s vassals and harried by monsters when Soma and his crew meet him. They form an uneasy compact of mutual defence as a monstrous plot by the Demon-Lord Barurugo is revealed that will topple the hierarchy of the cosmos.

Although it might not sound like it, this light-hearted blend of slapstick and action makes mock of traditional fantasy themes but is nonetheless an engaging romp that will satisfy any fan of the genre.

© 2002 Yong-su Hwang & Kyung-il Yang, Daiwon C.I. Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Masaru Gotsubo. Created by Manglobe (Tokyopop)
ISBN 1-5918-2282-3

A novel spin on the traditional samurai adventure genre is the basis of this manga, adapted from a successful anime (that’s cartoon show to you and me) in that although set in the civil war torn Edo period of seventeenth century Japan, the creators have eschewed the usually slavish concentration on period authenticity in favour of style-setting creative anachronism.

As well as hip, modernistic dialogue worthy of a summer blockbuster, characters may sport Raybans and goatees in addition to swords and bows. Think of it like setting Macbeth in Al Capone’s Chicago.

Trust me. In this context and used judiciously, as here, it does work, and with surprising effect.

The plot concerns the wanderings of a disparate trio who have fallen together under harsh circumstances. Erroneously branded as outlaws, they travel through a wildly dangerous country, hide-bound but simultaneously lawless as civil war tears their society apart.

Mugen is a wild, undisciplined mercenary from Okinawa (an independent nation at this period of time), continually hungry and more animal than man. Jin is his polar opposite, refined, skilled, a perfect Samurai. He is so tightly wound, however, that he is almost paralysed by his lack of a reason to fight or to live. The catalyst in this relationship is Fuu, who they discover working as a waitress. She is a paradox and has a deeply held secret agenda. She “hires” them both as her bodyguards as she embarks on an obsessive quest to find a mysterious Samurai who smells of Sunflowers.

In their travels they encounter bandits, battles, ninjas and nobility with their own plans for the trio. All the trappings of traditional Japanese historical adventures are present but the skewed perspective of twenty-first century comedy-drama sensibilities bring some much needed lightness to the often ponderous and oppressive doom-laden destiny and Giri-bound honourable slaughter of the genre-form. In Samurai Champloo most of the slaughter – and there is a vast amount – is for laughs.

Champloo is a corruption of the Okinawan word “champuru” which means mix, fusion or hybrid. This splendid combination of fashion, street sensibility and stripped down basics of a genre provides thrills and laughs in equal measure, whilst providing a strong narrative thread and engaging characters to carry the reader along. And don’t forget the mystery. What could anybody want with a samurai who smells of sunflowers?

© 2005 Masaru Gotsubo. © Manglobe/Shimoigusa Champloos. All Rights Reserved.

By Lindsay Cibos & Jared Hodges (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 1-5953-259-9

Amanda is a little girl who wants a pet. After much doing of that thing kids do, her cost-conscious mother finally surrenders to the inevitable and lets her get a baby ferret from a somewhat downbeat pet store.

What the humans don’t suspect is that the baby ferret (christened Peach Fuzz by the besotted Amanda) is a creature with an astonishing Walter Mitty-like fantasy life. She regards herself as the pampered princess of a Noble House, with courtiers and knights to carry out her every desire. The recurrent depredations of the hideous, monstrous five headed “Handra” that abducted her from her palace and often now accosts her before rudely returning her to her “dungeon” she sees as a dreadful indignity. Naturally therefore, she defends herself at every opportunity.

Amanda meanwhile, is emotionally (and physically) torn, since her pet isn’t everything she expected. Although she loves Peach Fuzz dearly, the animal is not particularly affectionate. In fact, she is being bitten every time she plays with her, and can’t even complain since mother has threatened to return the ferret if it bites!

Can all these little traumas be resolved? The answer makes delightful reading for kids of all ages with a taste for tongue-in-cheek whimsy. Peach Fuzz is the product of two newcomers to the field who won the Grand Prize in TokyoPop’s talent competition Rising Stars of Manga with this tale of communication, compromise and commitment. Well worth a look.

© 2005 Lindsay Cibos & Jared Hodges. English text © 2005 TOKYOPOP INC. All Rights Reserved.