Naruto: World of Dreams

I read Naruto, Vol. 63: World of Dreams

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin.

Bleach: The Fire

I read Bleach, Vol. 58

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics - which you can buy).

Naruto: The Crack

I read Naruto, Vol. 62: The Crack

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).

Review: BAKUMAN Volume 20

BAKUMAN。, VOL. 20
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

STORY: Tsugumi Ohba
ARTIST: Takeshi Obata
TRANSLATION: Tetsuichiro Miyaki
LETTERS: James Gaubatz
EDITOR: Alexis Kirsch
ISBN: 978-1-4215-5370-2; paperback (August 2013); Rated “T” for “Teen”
176pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

I remember when I first started reading Bakuman three years ago – sometime in early August 2010.  It was the start of a beautiful reading friendship.

Bakuman is a manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, and was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump, from August 11, 2008 to April 23, 2012.  VIZ Media has just published the North American edition of Bakuman Volume 20, the graphic novel collecting the final chapters of the series.

Bakuman is about two boys with a dream to make it in the world of manga.  Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi meet in middle school.  Mashiro loves to draw.  Takagi is an aspiring writer, who discovers Mashiro’s talent.  Takagi convinces Mashiro that they should unite to create manga.  Working under the penname, “Muto Ashirogi,” the boys achieve success over the next decade by getting their manga published in the magazine, Weekly Shonen Jump.  The duo’s newest series is Reversi.  How long can these two young men make it in the manga-publishing world?

A decade ago, two young men set about to create manga.  One of them, Mashiro, promised a fellow student, Miho Azuki, that he would marry her when both their dreams came true.  His was to create a manga that would be adapted into an anime, and hers was to be the voice actress who would play the lead role in that anime.

Bakuman, Vol. 20 (entitled Dreams and Reality – Chapters 169 to 176 – the final chapter) opens with dreams imperiled.  Miho takes to the radio to address the scandal that threatens to destroy her career and possibly Muto Ashirogi’s.

Muto Ashirogi’s latest manga hit, Reversi, is being adapted into an anime series.  Miho seemed destined to play the role of Reversi’s female lead, Naho Minadori, until a controversy.  Now, the audition for the part will be broadcast live and has been turned into an Internet contest with a fan vote determining which actress wins the part.  Will Miho win the part of Naho, and if she does, will that mean that Mashiro and Miho’s dreams will finally and completely come true?  Are there wedding bells in their future?

The Bakuman (stylized as Bakuman。) manga has reached its final volume.  There is a happy ending, but Bakuman Volume 20 offers both the present and hints about the future, without going into every detail.  This is sort of “make your own happy endings and assumptions,” and that is a good thing.

This is the way of Bakuman’s creators, writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata, the masterminds behind the Death Note manga.  Ohba offers fiction, but plays so close to reality.  Visually, Bakuman’s storytelling belies its realist streak.  Obata’s quirky graphic style suggests the fantastic and surreal nature of cartoons, but his draftsmanship plays it straight.  It is as if Bakuman’s masterminds want to say that this series is true – in a manner of speaking.

Bakuman is one of the great recent works of insider fiction, and is likely the best workplace comic book ever produced.  I highly recommend Bakuman and look forward to reading it again.

A+

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Bakuman: Decision and Joy

I read Bakuman., Vol. 19

I posted a review at the ComicBookBin (which has free smart phone apps and comics).

Bleach: Out of Bloom

I read Bleach, Vol. 57

I posted a review at ComicBookBin.

Review: HIS FAVORITE Volume 4

HIS FAVORITE, VOL. 4
SUBLIME – @SuBLimeManga

CARTOONIST: Suzuki Tanaka
TRANSLATION: Ivana Bloom
LETTERING: Annaliese Christman
COVER: Suzuki Tanaka and Fawn Lau
EDITOR: Alexis Kirsch
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4358-1; paperback (June 2013); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
194pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

What if a guy says he loves you? What do you do if you don’t think he takes anything, even love seriously?

Suzuki Tanaka, the creator of Love Hurts, also produced the boys’ love manga series, His Favorite. Boy’s love (also known by the acronym, BL) depicts romantic relationships between male characters. His Favorite can be classified as “shounen-ai,” the subset of BL that does not feature explicit depictions of sex between male characters.

His Favorite focuses on Yoshio Yoshida, an awkward high school student, and Takahiko Sato, the hottest guy in school and a guy madly in love with Yoshida. However, Yoshida thinks that Sato is not really serious about anything, especially love. Meanwhile, all the girls in school are crazy about Sato, and they think that Sato and Yoshida are just really close friends. That’s why they insist that Yoshida help them get closer to Sato.

His Favorite, Vol. 4 (Chapters 13 to 16) opens with a trip to the “House of Horrors,” a haunted house attraction at an amusement park named, “Gorilland.” Yoshida wants no part of a haunted house because he is too afraid. Sato just wants an opportunity to get close to Yoshida. Their female classmates want to use the attraction to get closer to Sato, and they’ll hurt anyone who gets in their way.

Then, go back to Yoshida and Sato’s middle school past. One was cool and popular; the other was a misfit about to be sent abroad. Next, Seijuro Nishida is madly in love with Yoshida, and now, he will wait no longer. It leads to a showdown at “Hell’s Pass.”

As boys’ love manga goes, His Favorite is light-hearted fare. The energy that fuels this series isn’t even hot-and-heavy petting, let alone actual sex. His Favorite is fueled by comedy hijinks. Yoshio Yoshida is so comical that it is difficult to imagine him sexualized or even depicted in a sex act. This may be boys’ love, but I hardly think that I can call this a gay comic or comic about gay teens.

That’s not to say that His Favorite is not enjoyable. I especially enjoy the throng of high school girls that wants Sato so badly, yet the girls cannot recognize the truth that is practically in their faces everyday. The best part of His Favorite Volume 4 is the story of Yoshida and Sato’s past, which is a surprisingly good character piece. In fact, it is an oddity in the silliness that surrounds it. That story is the reason I’m giving this volume a grade of “B” and not something below that.

B

www.SuBLimeManga.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

Review: HIS FAVORITE Volume 3

HIS FAVORITE, VOL. 3
SUBLIME – @SuBLimeManga

CARTOONIST: Suzuki Tanaka
TRANSLATION: Ivana Bloom
LETTERING: Annaliese Christman
COVER: Suzuki Tanaka and Fawn Lau
EDITOR: Alexis Kirsch
ISBN: 978-1-4215-4357-4; paperback (March 2013); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
178pp, B&W, $12.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £8.99 UK

Suzuki Tanaka, the creator of Love Hurts, also produced the boys’ love manga series, His Favorite. Boy’s love (also known by the acronym, BL) depicts romantic relationships between male characters. His Favorite can be classified as “shounen-ai,” the subset of BL that does not feature explicit depictions of sex between male characters.

His Favorite Volume 3 (Chapters 8 to 12) focuses on Yoshida, an awkward high school student, and Sato, the hottest guy in school. Sato is in love with Yoshida, but the latter things the former wants to play around too much and is not really serious about anything, especially love. Meanwhile, all the girls in school are crazy about Sato, and they think that Sato and Yoshida are just really close friends. That’s why they insist that Yoshida help them get closer to Sato.

Yoshida and Sato’s classmates, Yamanaka and Torachin, are in a similar predicament. Torachin’s frequent fights have left him with a bruised, unattractive face, which scares the girls – sometimes to tears. Yamanaka thinks Torachin is just right, but Torachin doesn’t think that Yamanaka is ever serious – about anything.

As boys’ love manga goes, His Favorite is tame. It doesn’t even have the heat of the more complicated shojo teen romances (such as a Honey Hunt). Instead, it is deliberately, almost stubbornly playful. Creator Suzuki Tanaka offers comedy and slapstick; there are misunderstandings and kissing.

Sex is far way and talked about as something that will, should, or even might happen, but does not happen in the text or seemingly even “off camera.” The characters are funny in how clueless they are, or perhaps, they are not clueless. It is a peculiar kind of tunnel vision from which they suffer… maybe.

B

www.SuBLimeManga.com

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux

I Reads You Review: FRUITS BASKET ULTIMATE EDITION, VOL. 4

Creators: Natsuki Takaya with Alethea and Athena Nibley and Alexis Kirsch (translation)
Publishing Information: TOKYOPOP, B&W, hardcover, 410 pages, $14.99 U.S., $18.99
Ordering Numbers: ISBN: 978-1-4278-0731-1 (ISBN-13)

I imagine that on different occasions during the last few weeks, manga creator Natsuki Takaya found herself suffering from what seemed like cramps. They were actually the labor pains she felt as she brought another Fruits Basket fan into the world – me.

Fruits Basket was serialized in the Japanese magazine, Hana to Yume, from 1999 to 2006, and was eventually collected in 23 volumes (or tankōbon). Fruits Basket is the story of high school student Tohru Honda. After her mother dies in a car accident, Tohru begins living in a tent and supporting herself. She eventually finds a home with Yuki Sohma and his cousins Shigure and Kyo.

The Sohmas are not normal because they live with a curse. Thirteen members of the family are possessed by spirits of the Chinese zodiac, and they turn into their respective zodiac animals when hugged by someone of the opposite gender. Tohru promises to keep this fact a secret, but her goal is to break the Sohma curse. Meanwhile, Tohru and the Sohmas have various adventures.

TOKYOPOP, the North American publisher of the series, has been republishing Fruits Basket in “Ultimate Editions,” which reprints two volumes of the series. Fruits Basket Ultimate Edition Volume 4 collects Fruits Basket, Vol. 7 (which contains Chapters 37-42 of the story) and Vol. 8 (Chapters 43-48).

There are several storylines that occur in these 12 chapters. Tohru’s friendship with the shy Kisa Sohma causes her friction with another Sohma, the smart-alek Hiro, who begins to harass and steal from Tohru. In a long flashback, Tohru’s friend Arisa Uotani tells how meeting Tohru and her late mother, Kyoko, changed her life. Also, Tohru meets the troubled Ritsu Sohma, and the arrival of parent-teacher conferences brings up the touchy subject of the Sohmas’ parents.

TOKYOPOP bills Fruits Basket as the “#1 selling shojo manga in America,” and I have seen it on a few manga bestseller lists that I found. I don’t follow message boards and fan groups, so I don’t know why so many other readers like it. I like it because, at least in these stories, Fruits Basket is about friends having a good time, and when they have a bad time, they work through it together as friends. The characters are engaging; they’re the kind you just want to follow around from page to page. Creator Natsuki Takaya makes her characters so playful and so exuberant that even their squabbling has a sparkling, fun quality about it.

Another great thing about Fruits Basket is Takaya’s gorgeous art. It’s a relatively simple style, but there is a sexy and vivacious air about ever line and every brush stroke, which results in pretty figure drawing. As a bit character says about the cast “But such beautiful children. Are they models?” They’re certainly models for good shojo manga.

A-

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