#IReadsYou Review: POKÉMON: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution

POKÉMON: MEWTWO STRIKES BACK – EVOLUTION
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Machito Gomi
TRANSLATION/ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
LETTERS: Susan Daigle-Leach
EDITOR: Annette Roman
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1552-7; paperback; (August 11, 2020); Rated “A” for “All Ages”
128pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £7.99 UK

Pokémon is a Japanese media franchise managed by the Pokémon Company, a company founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures.  The franchise was created by Japanese video game designer and director, Satoshi Tajiri, in 1995.  The franchise began in 1996 as a pair of video games, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, for the original “Game Boy” handheld game console.  Pokémon is centered on fictional creatures called “Pokémon.”  Humans, known as “Pokémon Trainers,” catch and train the Pokémon to battle each other for sport.

The Pokémon franchise includes a number animated television series (known as “anime”) and animated films.  There are also Pokémon manga (comics), and many are simply comic book adaptations of the Pokémon video games, anime, and films, although there are some manga that feature original stories set in the world of Pokémon.

Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution is a 2019 computer-animated Pokémon film.  It is the 22nd film in the Pokémon film series, and it is also a remake of the first Pokémon film, Pokémon: The First Movie.  Released in 1998, it is also know as Pokémon The First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back.

In 2019, manga writer-artist Machito Gomi produced a manga adaptation of Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution.  It was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, CoroCoro Comic, from May 15 to June 14, 2019.  VIZ Media is publishing an English-language edition of the manga as a single-volume, paperback graphic novel.

As Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution opens, a new Pokémon is born.  It wonders where it is and what it is.  It soon learns that it is “Mewtwo,” a clone of the mythical and greatest Pokémon of all time, “Mew.”  Before long, Mewtwo meets the crime lord, Giovanni, the leader of the the criminal organization, “Team Rocket.”  Giovanni reveals to Mewtwo that it was his doing that initiated the creation of Mewtwo, but when the crime lord reveals his diabolical plans for Mewtwo, the newly born and cloned Pokémon rebels.

Escaping from Team Rocket headquarters, Mewtwo heads to New Island where it seeks to find meaning to its life, but also plots revenge against human creators.  Soon, Mewtwo calls forth the world's best Pokémon trainers and their Pokémon to Pokémon Castle to face his challenge.  Ash Ketchum and Pikachu and their friends, Brock and Misty, and their Pokémon find themselves at the center of Mewtwo's rampage.  With the future of the Pokémon world at stake, will our heroes be able to overcome Mewtwo’s challenge…and will Mewtwo be able to find a new meaning for its life?  A surprise Pokémon appearance and a miracle may answer such questions.

THE LOWDOWN:  For adults, the Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution manga will be a quick read.  However, open adult minds will enjoy this manga as much as young readers will most assuredly enjoy reading it.

The Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution graphic novel is also a “kodomo manga” (comics for children), but because it is an adaptation of an important installment in the Pokémon franchise (the first Pokémon film), it could have a broad appeal across the generations of Pokémon fans, which goes back to the mid-1990s.

I am being totally honest when I say that Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution is both the best Pokémon manga or graphic novel that I have ever read and also is one of the most enjoyable comics that I have read this summer.  Why is it a sheer delight?  Writer-artist Machito Gomi captures the things that make Pokémon fun:  the characters, the relationships, the positive attitude, the competition, the possibility for redemption, and the Pokémon.

Gomi's cleaning drawing style, which has a graphic style similar to certain kinds of anime, and the graphical storytelling both make for clear storytelling.  The toning also gives the story a sense of weight and creates an atmosphere of mystery and dramatic tension that makes it feels as if there is something on the line for the characters.  They all have something to lose, especially our heroes.

So I will call Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution one of the summer's delightful comic book and young reader graphic novel surprises.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Pokémon manga will want Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back – Evolution.

8 out of 10

Monday, August 10, 2020


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.


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#IReadsYou Review: RAN AND THE GRAY WORLD Volume 7

RAN AND THE GRAY WORLD, VOL. 7
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Aki Irie
TRANSLATION: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
LETTERING: Joanna Estep
EDITOR: Amy Yu
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0368-5; paperback (May 2020); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
304pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $19.99 CAN, £9.99 UK

Ran and the Gray World is a fantasy manga written and illustrated by Aki Irie.  The manga was serialized in the manga magazine, Fellows!, from December 2008 to April 2015.  VIZ Media published an English-language edition of the manga as a graphic novel series under its “VIZ Signature” imprint from November 2018 to May 2020.

Ran and the Gray World focuses on Ran Uruma.  Ran can't wait to grow up and be a sorceress like her mother, Shizuka.  With the help of a pair of magical sneakers, Ran sometimes transforms herself into an adult and takes off on various (mis)adventures.

As Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 7 (Chapters 38 to 45 to Final Chapter) opens, Ran finally awakens from her long sleep.  However, everyone is afraid to tell Ran that Otaro Midado, the older man who courted and wanted to marry the adult Ran, has died.  After her friend and rival, Nio Gekkoin, tells her, Ran's tears affect everyone around her and in the town of Haimachi.

As she works through her grief, Ran thinks about her future and about how she can become a stronger sorceress.  After she makes her decision, she informs her mother, father, and brother, and her plan sends her family into a tizzy.  And how will she handle her budding relationship with her human classmate, Makoto Hibi, the boy who is very much in love with her?

[This volume includes two bonus stories, “Shizuka's Vagabond Diaries” and “Hibi's Heart Isn't In It.”  It also has the illustrated 24-page “Character Introduction,” an “Afterword,” and a bonus illustration.]

THE LOWDOWN:  The Ran and the Gray World manga spent a few volumes being in the middle of an intense story arc.  But once the fighting was over, it was apparently time to say goodbye.

Ran of the Gray World Graphic Novel Volume 7 is the final volume of the series.  While Vol. 6 wrapped up the bug invasion story arc, Vol. 7 finds Ran learning to grow up in a normal way (as normal as it can be in a world of sorcery).  “You know how kids only think about themselves?” Makoto asks Ran.  “Well, we're not kids any more,” he answers his rhetorical question.”

The crux of the series seems to be that Ran wanted to grow up too fast, and, in the process, she took on an adult relationship with an adult man, a relationship for which she was not prepared on a number of fronts.  When she had to save the one she loved, Ran made bad decisions concerning a person that no one could save.  Death was inevitable, and consequently, so was her soul-wrenching grief – to say nothing of the fallout experienced by her community and her hometown.

The fact that Ran could put on a pair of magical shoes that would transform her into a woman always felt like a gimmick to me.  Now, I know that the series' hook about the woman-child and the magical shoes was an important part of a coming-of-age story.  The shoes were not a gimmick, but they were going to lead to a lesson learned, one that could be passed on in the future.  Like the circle of life, the story ends with some else wanting to be “big” too soon, but with age comes wisdom.  This time, Ran knows exactly what to say when a child comes to her looking for a shortcut.

Emi Louie-Nishikawa's translation is spry and lively, and, in Vol. 7, she captures all the bittersweet essences that imbue the drama of this manga's final chapters.  Joanna Estep's precise lettering matches creator Aki Irie's art with its detailed line work and intricate crosshatching.  The art's layered toning, thick blacks, and lush brushwork coalesce into beautiful storytelling that carries the reader's gaze and imagination on a magical ride through this final volume.

I will only complain that this final volume seems a little long at 250+ pages of narrative, but even after that long finale, I didn't want to leave the Gray World.  Still, this excellent seven-volume fantasy manga will be waiting for new readers.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of coming-of-age stories about young magic users will want to try the “VIZ Signature” title, Ran and the Gray World.

9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.


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Review: RAN AND THE GRAY WORLD Volume 1

RAN AND THE GRAY WORLD, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Aki Irie
TRANSLATION: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
LETTERING: Joanna Estep
EDITOR: Amy Yu
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0362-3; paperback (November 2018); Rated “T+” for “Older Teen”
216pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $19.99 CAN, £9.99 UK

Ran and the Gray World is a manga from Aki Irie.  The series focuses on a girl who wants to be like her mother, who is a powerful sorceress.  VIZ Media is publishing this manga in English as a graphic novel series on a quarterly basis.

Ran and the Gray World, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 6) introduces a girl named Ran Uruma.  She lives with her father, Zen, and her annoying older brother, Jin.  Ran wants to be a sorceress like her mother, Shizuka, who does not live with Ran and her brother and father.  Ran can't wait until she actually grows up, so she uses the help of a magical pair of sneakers that transforms her into a young woman.  Her brother and father try to keep her safe, but Ran is also determined to have her own adventure.

The Ran and the Gray World manga is a strange one, but part of its allure is that it seems like it is going to be... eclectic?  And the art is certainly pretty.

Ran of the Gray World Graphic Novel Volume 1 is a coming-of-age story in which the character that is coming-of-age of age already seems to be quite self-possessed.  As a child or in her adult form, Ran Uruma is trying to discover the world and to discover what she can be in that world.  Creator Aki Irie presents Ran's mother's visits to her family as a great raucous thing of magic and creation, and Ran's journey seems to be much like that.

This first volume of Ran and the Gray World is beautifully drawn, and it introduces characters and concepts more than it delves into them.  It all seems like a tease, and I want to know more about the delightfully taciturn older brother, Jin, as well as about the obligations of the vivacious, but largely absent mother, Shizuka.  I must admit that Ran and the Gray World's sense of the magical and the  whimsical make me want to come back for more.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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Review AO HARU RIDE Volume 1

AO HARU RIDE, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: Io Sakisaka
TRANSLATION: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
LETTERS: Inori Fukuda Trant
EDITOR: Nancy Thislethwaite
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0265-7; paperback (October 2018); Rated “T” for “Teen”
184pp, B&W, $9.99 US, $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Ao Haru Ride (also known as Blue Spring Ride) is a shōjo manga series written and illustrated by Io Sakisaka.  The series was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Margaret, from February 2011 to February 2015.  VIZ Media is publishing this manga in English as a series of graphic novels, entitled Ao Haru Ride, available in both print and digital editions.

Ao Haru Ride, Vol. 1 (“Unwritten” and Chapters 1 to 3) introduces Futaba Yoshioka, a middle school girl who cannot stand boys.  That is the case until she meets Kou Tanaka, and she is immediately smitten with him.  Kou moves away before Futuba can really express her feelings.  Now, she is in high school, and she sees a boy who looks like Kou.  But is he the same boy in which she fell in love?

Shojo readers will recognize the illustrative style of the Ao Haru Ride manga.  Creator Io Sakisaka also produced the manga, Strobe Edge, which VIZ Media also published in English as a series of graphic novels.

Ao Haru Ride Graphic Novel Volume 1 is a little different from Strobe Edge.  The main characters, Futuba and Kou, are introduced in a short story, entitled “Unwritten,” which, as a read, is as sweet and as comforting as a cup of warm cocoa.

The main story, which is set in high school and covers three chapters in this volume, is decidedly different.  It is a little edgy and is certainly tart, as Sakisaka deals with such themes and topics as friendship, yearning for the way things were, fake friends, and being true to oneself.  After really liking “Unwritten,” I found myself initially put off by the present day narrative.  It may take awhile for me to truly warm up to this, but I like that the characters are stubborn about being true even if its means being standoffish.  I am curious to read future volumes.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint syndication rights and fees.

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Review: SHORTCAKE CAKE Volume 1

SHORTCAKE CAKE, VOL. 1
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

MANGAKA: suu Morishita
TRANSLATION: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
LETTERING: Inori Fukuda Trant
EDITOR: Nancy Thislethwaite
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0061-5; paperback (August 2018); Rated “T” for “Teen”
176pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Short Cake Cake is a shojo manga created by Suu Morishita (or “suu Morishita”).  The manga began serialization in the Japanese manga magazine, Margaret, in 2015.  VIZ Media is publishing the manga in a series of English-language graphic novels, entitled Shortcake Cake.

Shortcake Cake, Vol. 1 (Chapters 1 to 5) introduces Ten Serizawa, a freshmen at Nekochiya High School.  In order to attend the high school, however, Ten has a two-hour commute through the mountains, both ways, every school day.  Ten's friend, Ageha Haruno, suggests that she move into the boarding house where Ageha stays.  If she does move in, Ten will have to contend with three high school boys who, to varying degrees, are attracted to her.

[This volume includes bonus manga and eight pages of cover and chapter-page illustrations.]

In the tradition of Honey So Sweet, the Shortcake Cake manga is a like a warm cup of cocoa.  It does manage to be a bit off-beat as far as shojo high school romances go; the boarding house element is the reason.

Shortcake Cake Graphic Novel Volume 1 introduces a nice cast of six boarding house residents, all of high school age, and also the adult “house mom.”  They are all good characters, and I like that there is a bit of tartness to Ten Serizawa.  I found that each character is different from the other, and while they are familiar high school shojo types, they are interesting, maybe even a little intriguing.  I enjoyed reading this first volume and look forward to the second volume.  I think that Shortcake Cake will reveal a bit more edge in upcoming volumes.

7 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint syndication rights and fees.

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Review: KAGUYA-SAMA: Love is War Volume 2

KAGUYA-SAMA: LOVE IS WAR, VOL. 2
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

MANGAKA: Aka Akasaka
TRANSLATION: Emi Louie-Nishikawa
ENGLISH ADAPTATION: Annette Roman
LETTERS: Stephen Dutro
EDITOR: Annette Roman
ISBN: 978-1-9747-0031-8; paperback (May 2018); Rated “T” for “Teen”
228pp, B&W, $9.99 U.S., $12.99 CAN, £6.99 UK

Kaguya-sama: Love is War is a manga from creator Aka Akasaka.  The series was first serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Miracle Jump, before moving to Young Jump.  Kaguya-sama: Love is War focuses on two high school geniuses who fall in love, but refuse to admit it.  VIZ Media is publishing the series in English as a series of graphic novels.

In Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Kaguya Shinomiya is a well-bred lady and an heir.  She is Student Council Vice-President at Shuchin Academy, a school for the children of the rich and famous and for future leaders.  Miyuki Shirogane is the strong, silent type who has a singular focus on his studies.  He is President of the Student Council.  Kaguya and Miyuki are two geniuses, each in love with the other.  But love is war, so which will confess love to the other when the one who confesses his... or her love first loses.

When Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Vol. 2 (Chapters 11 to 20) opens, Miyuki has finally obtained a smart phone.  As he enters his information in his new device, he wonders if he should ask Kaguya for her phone number.  But could she mistake a request for such information as a declaration of love?  We can't have that!  Then, Kaguya and Miyuki accidentally switch drinking cups.  Is drinking from another person's cup like kissing him... or her?  And will such a kiss be a declaration of love?!

Plus, it's the battle of the cat ears.

[This volume includes bonus manga and an essay, “When reading Kaguya-sama: Love is War, Vol. 2...” by Aka Akasaka.]

The Kaguya-sama: Love is War manga is an episodic manga like Hayate the Combat Butler, which means that each chapter is essentially an episode and focuses on a new situation.  Kaguya-sama's situations are comedic, so it would be fair and accurate to call it a situation comedy or sitcom.

My VIZ Media rep sent me a copy of Kaguya-sama: Love is War Graphic Novel Volume 2.  I was sure I received a press release about this manga before the first volume was published, but the series did not register with me until I received a review copy of Vol. 2.  I must say that I really enjoyed this manga.  It is funny to watch these two genius slash idiots struggling against common sense and the fact that they really want to date each other.  I do think that this series will have to evolve over time, as has Hayate the Combat Butler.

For now, however, just being funny is good enough.  Fans of sitcom-type manga will want to read the Shonen Jump title, Kaguya-sama: Love is War.

A-
7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2018 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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