Category: Manga

 

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.

 

By Yukiru Sugisaki (Tokyopop)
ISBN: 1-59523-359-7

Good old fashioned supernatural action and hi-jinks is what this adventure for older kids promises and delivers in a lively manner. Yen and Jin Ragun are schoolboys with all the pressures that entails but they also have a family duty to perform. They are the latest generation tasked with the banishing evil spirits, ghosts and demons whenever and wherever they might rear their scary, disembodied heads.

As a premise for adventure it ranks between Harry Potter and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, with plenty of sibling squabbling, homework and friend tensions, not to mention lots of action. But Yukiru Sugisaki is not afraid to blend a little pathos and sensitivity into the mix and the result makes for a much more complete read.

Although I found some of the attention to explaining the rules of magic under which the brothers must labour a little long, dry and extraneous, not to say a bit reminiscent of learning all the rules of Pokemon Duelling, I’m sure that’s not necessarily the case for the target audience, and even so the drama, pace and character interplay still made this a pretty good way to spend an afternoon.

© 2002, 2005 Yukiru Sugisaki. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Yayoi Ogawa (Tokyopop)
ISBN 1595-321-39X

This intriguing, introspective love story is a beguiling and tasteful exploration of modern relationships at the margins of societal norms. Sumire Iwaya is a thoroughly modern woman, with a good job, better prospects and her priorities sorted. But like so many career women her romantic life is a problem. Recovering from a messy affair with the boss’s son, and constantly evaluating her admittedly high romantic standards just means that she’s tired, stressed, comfortably situated and terribly, terribly lonely.

When she discovers a beautiful young man in a dumpster she grudgingly gives him shelter. He appears to be a complete innocent, vital, energetic and without guile – or manners. Fed up with her life and with the kind of men she seems to attract, she enters into a bizarre pact with the vagrant. Naming him Momo, after a dog she had as a child, she adopts him as her secret pet. She will feed, bathe and pamper him in return for companionship, warmth and the kind of unconditional love that only an animal can provide.

But what is “unconditional”? As Sumire’s life goes on, with friends, career and even a new boyfriend all piling their respective pressures on, her secret pet increasingly becomes her only haven of contentment. But Momo is not a dumb animal. He has his own life no matter how he might deny it. And in this classic “When Harry Met Sally” dilemma the couple are being compelled by their own natures to reassess their relationship and thereby endanger their only emotional refuge.

Sharp, charming and strikingly drawn, this is a book for grown-ups that manages to be mature whilst still being decorous. I eagerly await the sequel.

© 2000, 2004 Yayoi Ogawa. All Rights Reserved.

 

By Yukiru Sugisaki (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59532-901-3

The premise of RizelMine will be familiar territory to long-time manga fans, featuring as it does a hapless high-school boy/all-around geek (this one is 15-year-old Iwaki Tomonori) and a beautiful, super-powerful girl who inexplicably falls hopelessly in love with him, leading to the traditional slap-stick chaos and fearsome personal embarrassment all around.

Rizel is – or appears to be – a cute twelve year old girl, which would be annoying enough to a young man preparing to declare his undying love for his high school teacher. But his protestations are not only largely ignored, but they seem to inevitably lead to humiliation and quite a lot of bruising.

Tomonori adores older women, and cannot understand why this girl bursts into his bedroom brandishing a marriage certificate and telling him that they are now man and wife. He certainly can’t imagine why his parents are going along with this nonsense, nor why Rizel’s three incredibly scary “guardians” have moved in with them.

It soon transpires that Rizel is an artificial life-form needing to experience human love to further evolve. Furthermore, the government are prepared to go to any lengths to maximise their asset, and it doesn’t care how embarrassing or inconvenient it might be for some of its citizens. Enduring the approbation of his school-mates, the machinations of the world’s richest boy – who wants to marry Rizel himself – and the truly catastrophic repercussions of annoying his child-bride (something Tomonori does with astounding regularity) our hero soldiers on, determined to regain his pride, social standing and equilibrium. If only Rizel wasn’t so darned nice…

Although perhaps a slightly disturbing premise to contemporary western eyes (I don’t even know if school-children can marry in Japan!) this is a fairly standard manga comedy-fantasy that will delight aficionados of the genre but probably baffle the casual reader.

© 2002 Yukiru Sugisaki /KADOKAWA SHOTEN. All Rights Reserved.
English text © 2005 TOKYOPOP Inc.

By Maki Murakami (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59532-317-1

This whimsical action-fantasy tells the story of Yamada Shintaro, who, although a seemingly average, everyday, good-looking, teen fighter of the supernatural horrors of the night, is, in fact, the world’s latest Monster Guardian. Appointed to protect the Earth’s dwindling and endangered un-natural species, he finds himself annoyingly embroiled in a budding relationship with the distractingly attractive Nao, a human girl who attends his high-school.

Played for laughs and action in equal measure, with distractions to a peaceful, romantic life as diverse as the High School Occult Club, defeated Monster-hunters who refuse to stay dead and a persistently determined hottie/exorcist who won’t take a hint, this is an above-average teen-romp that will nicely fill the gaping gap in your dire life since Buffy stopped filming new episodes.

© 2001 Maki Murakami. All Rights Reserved.
English text © 2005 TOKYOPOP Inc.

 

By Shizuru Seino (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59182-696-9

This bizarrely engaging cross-dressing sports comedy is an examination of pushy parenthood gone wild. Kyo Aizawa’s father was good enough to play basketball for the majors of the NBA, but an injury destroyed his career forever. Kyo has the potential to be an even greater player, and dear old dad will let nothing thwart this second chance for fame and family glory. He enrols Kyo at the legendary Seisyu High School, home of the greatest Boys Basketball team in Japan. Not even the fact that Kyo is a girl will stop him from having a Basketball star in the family!

Blending genuine pathos with the slap-stick and teen angst comedy-of-embarrassment, Shizuru Seino examines the need to fulfil family obligations battling the growth to independence, and the first inklings of adult desire within the trite framework of an ostensibly hackneyed and moribund theme. There are school hi-jinks aplenty, with Kyo, a double outsider, striving to excel, trying to remain undiscovered, and fighting off the growing feeling she is developing for her team mates. There are even a few bona fide laughs along the way.

Faithful to the manga style, Girl Got Game still manages to provide a few entertaining surprises for the general reader. You don’t even need to love sports or be a girl…

© 2000 Shizuru Seino. All Rights Reserved.
English text © 2003 TOKYOPOP Inc.

 

By Erica Reis (TokyoPop)
ISBN 1-59816-401-5

This charming fantasy follows the coming of age adventures of a regal daughter of the Oceans who is reaching maturity and therefore sadly compelled to accept some pretty odious responsibilities – such as marry a foreign prince to end a war.

I’m sure this all sounds like pretty standard storybook fare so far, but when you take into account that Sea Princess Azuri is a mermaid, half girl, half Orca (that would be a Killer Whale to you or me), that her friend and bodyguard harbours secret feelings for her, and that the Prince she must marry (half man, half Eel, by the way) is a sneaky, slave owning creep with a secret agenda of his own, the potential for a real rollicking adventure is pretty high.

Erica Ries draws beautifully and her undersea world is both whimsical and fully fleshed, whilst her modernistic take on the classical fairytale scenario makes for a charming and readily approachable read. I look forward to future volumes, and so, I suspect, will you.

© 2006 Erica Reis and TOKYOPOP Inc. All Rights Reserved.