Review – Ikigami
A child is full of potential. That’s partly why we cherish them so much. In Ikigami: the Ultimate Limit, the government has developed a vaccine that can protect the population from every single known disease. However, to keep the citizens appreciation for life, a small percentage of vaccines kill the child before he or she turns 25. A day before their death, a man delivers an ikigami or death card to the victim. Fujimoto delivers these cards. Unfortunately, Ikigami is a lot like a child just full of potential. It never grows into anything more.
I would be willing to accept that a government would do this except it seems so pointless. People can still die of random acts. Also, generally, an appreciation for life comes with age. So killing children and young adults might hurt the families of those children but I would think that the surviving population would only feel relief that they had survived, not necessarily a new appreciation for life. Having the vaccine kill-switch triggered between 25 and 40 makes more sense. However, the book does focus on the devastation the ikigami brings to the families so I guess I’ll try and move past this nagging plot point.
Fujimoto begins to question the practice but has to be careful because the big bad government kills anyone who questions them. Of course they do. In volume 1, Fujimoto delivers an ikigami to a bitter loser who promptly goes off the deep end and extracts revenge on his highschool tormentors. The story is designed to show the potential problems with alerting someone to their death; they’ve got nothing to lose. However, the overblown artwork makes it seem like the man was a psycho and it was only a matter of time before he went off anyway. In fact, his advice to a young child is ‘go off now, don’t wait’. Confusing.
In the second story a street musician duo is separated when one is tapped for stardom and the other isn’t. The would-be star receives an ikigami and decides to reconnect, in his last seconds, with his true soul. He sings a song the duo wrote and that song brings his friend out of a coma. Then Fujimoto begins to wonder if the ikigami isn’t such a bad thing but a gift that allows people to really live.
There’s a lot of unnecessary information about how the vaccine is made and how it’s recipients are kept secret. This extraneous information illustrates what’s wrong with Ikigami. There’s too much thought. Instead of being a story about human experience and limits of life, it becomes a commentary on government, crime, art, and duty. That’s too much. The artwork is also overdone. At times the characters look like they are in a Pokemon battle as opposed to dealing with a revelation (albeit an awful one). Tears pour over dramatically, veins bulge. These conventions don’t heighten the tension, they just take the reader out of the story.
I can see the potential in Ikigami because it’s not a bad idea. The format of a big story tied together by stort stories leaves the door open for lots of different emotions and themes. Unfortunately, nothing comes together in any tangible way. It’s not a bad but it’s certainly not good. Oh, and another nagging point that maybe someone can help me figure out. On the first page it says the elementary school is in Angleton, Texas yet all the children and teachers are Japanese. What’s the deal? Is this something that was changed for Western readers? If so, why?
No More Crayon Shin-chan
Comic book resources Robot6 blog reports that Crayon Shin-chan creator dies in climbing accident.
I wasn’t a really big fan of this series but it was cute and rude and pretty funny. Sad.
What would you shoot out of the manga canon?
Kate Dacey asks: What Belongs in the Manga Canon?. By extension of course, she’s also asking, should there even be a manga canon? If you aren’t an English major (and why would you be) then you may not be familiar with the concept of a canon. Basically, a bunch of like minded folks get together and make a giant list of what they think you should be reading. Then some other people, from a different perspective, come along and point out the stuff they missed. Then you read it and wonder, ‘why the hell is this on the list’? Only don’t call it a list cause then you’ll look like a giant uneducated idiot. It’s a canon.
So go over and read the post because it discusses the points and pitfalls of making a canon. I’ll wait here.
The biggest problem I see with making a manga canon for an English speakers is that it means the entire canon is translated material. I think this would just make all the problems Kate discusses tenfold. By being translated the integrity of the original work is compromised. Of course, I’m all for translating because it means I get to read manga and I know that most translators do an excellent job. But still, that’s one layer removed from the original intent.
Are Americans really the ones who should be making a canon out of completely foreign material? Won’t we inevitably add works that appeal to our sensibilities without even realizing it? Other people will know more about unlicensed material than I will, but what about that?
What would we be saying with a canon like this?
I’m not entirely against the idea. It will be interesting to see what people believe is canon worthy through that American filter. What do a bunch of Japanese books say about our own experience? What do we see in these stories, especially those “masterpieces” that reflects our image?
Kate also mentions the issue of gender. Different perspectives is, of course, the canon’s fatal flaw. Shakespeare means half of what Kate Chopin means to me. How do you include everything that represents everyone? It’s impossible. Things will be missed, not because anyone wants to exclude them purposefully but because we just won’t see them.
I don’t know what the answer is on this one. I’m a huge fan of Top lists. Mabye we should do that? Lots and lots of Top 10 lists – with pictures.
Jason Thompson wants to share
Jason Thompson, author of the Manga: the Complete Guide, is giving away his very extensive manga collection! Check it out here:
My 365 Days of Manga: Or, Manga The Complete Guide Returns
Top 5 “Melodrama” Picks
I don’t want to give the impression with my Saturday post that I dislike emotional porn. Good heavens, no! Quite the opposite in fact. I’ve left my freshman college English major self in the dust. While it’s true that I don’t think teenage girls emulating the likes of Bella Swan is a good thing, I do think it’s perfectly wonderful to imagine that somewhere, sparkling in a tree, Edward Cullen waits. Hmm, I know far to much about this Twilight business than I should considering I couldn’t make it through the first book.
Ok, on to my top 5!
1. Vampire Knight – I do despise Yuki with her cow-chewing-cud stare but this story has three things that I can’t resist: Boarding schools, hot (shirtless) vampires and hall monitors with guns. Throw in the occasional ball and I am all over it. I’ve kind of quit reading but the first few volumes are yummy.
2. Absolute Boyfriend - so good. So so good. And here’s why. The love triangle includes a horny robot. I’ll repeat horny! robot! The first volume even features said robot, neked with a bow. I know! Making a robot fall in love and deny his robot self is unadulterated emotional porn.
3. You’re so Cool – Here he is, the bad boy. Not “bad” in the sense that he wants to suck your blood but really really bad. He’s cruel, taunting and you are the only one who can melt his cold heart.
4. Chocolate – Hello, boy band.
5. Fake – remember in those tv dramas, Moonlighting, X-Files, Bones – all that will they/won’t they stuff? Well this is like that only the Hayes/Scully/Brennan character is much hotter and also male. Be warned though, it includes a sweet side story that annoyingly gets in the way of the fun.
What are your top 5? Recommend some to me!
Back to Work/End of Summer Reading
I’m back at work! It’s kind of weird but believe me, I’m relishing the time to drink a cup of coffee and read my email without worrying I’m going to spill on the baby’s head or get my computer torn down by the toddler.
This may be shocking to some but maternity leave is no vacation! Still I did get to squeeze in a few manga these past couple months. Here’s how I felt about them:
Bride of the Water God Vol. 2
I had heard that the second volume doesn’t necessarily improve. The character development is still minimal, the plot is full of holes and the dialogue is laughable. Still, the artwork makes up for everything. I don’t care how insipid Habaek and Soah continue to be, if they wear those gorgeous clothes while flying past the moon in an elaborate ship, I will eat it up.
Uzumaki Vol. 2
There’s very little “horror” that I can’t handle. Uzumaki is pushing the limit. In this twisted (pun intended) volume, the terror is pushed up as the town possessed by a spiral, uh, spirals downward. I warn you, it’s seriously disturbing but brillant. The only thing that bothers me is that the townspeople have yet to figure out what’s going on. You would think that after multiple frightening incidents, including people morphing in snails for godsake, the folks would learn to stay away from anything strange or believe others when they relate that something is wrong – ah, but no.
Pluto Vol. 1
I should have read this title first. I’m a huge fan of Monster and was thrilled to see a couple of series by Naoki Urasawa. My comic book guy recommended it over 20th Century Boys, saying it was different than Monster and would make a nice change. Based on a single Astro Boy story, “The Greatest Robot on Earth”, Pluto takes the concept of a robot murdering serial killer and expands the world to a completely new level. There is obviously a lot of care and reverence to the master, Osamu Tezuka. I’m not sure why I resisted, perhaps because Astro Boy is my least favorite Tezuka title? Whatever the reason, I’m glad I finally got around to it.
So there you have it, my summer reading. Another good reason to return to work? The copies of Queen & Country and A Drifting Life on my desk!
New Word for YBY: Bishōnen!
Young Bill Young here. Sadie and her readers are probably laughing, but since Manga is still new to me, I keep stumbling across the different genres as I explore manga sections in library stacks and at local OKC comic shops. While browsing at Atomic Pop on South Western, I looked at a title categorized as bishōnen. Say what?
So, it was off to an Internet search. Bishōnen is a japanese word that means “beautiful boy,” and the bishōnen asthetic has been in existence in Japan for more than 1,000 years, although today it is very much a manga term. College student Can Tran, in this interesting post says a comparable western term for bishōnen would be metrosexual. (Now we’re getting somewhere!)
Unlike yaoi—that other gender-bending, mind-blowing Japanese manga term that Sadie shared with me—bishōnen features young men “whose beauty (and sexual appeal) transcends the boundary of sexual orientation.” (According to the bishōnen definition in this Wikipedia entry.) While the artistic depiction of bishōnen men in manga may be feminized, the protagonists are more stereotypically-male in other respects: they possess physical strength, often manifesting martial arts skills and a talent for sports. (Makes sense, since the title I picked up at Atomic Pop was definitely an action/adventure story.)
Bishōnen heroes also tend to be highly intelligent, with a “comedic flair.” (Wikipedia, again.) That may explain one of the reasons why, like Yaoi, it is a very popular genre with Japanese girls and women. (Gotta have some meat with those potatoes!)
In the end, I didn’t pick up the bishōnen title. Instead, I purchased the first issue of Pluto, a reimagining of Osamu Tezuka’s ground-breaking manga, Astro Boy. (Read Pluto online.)
But I’m going to keep my eye on the bishōnen genre. You can too at Bishōnen Guide.
Finally, is Adam Lambert bishōnen?
07-Ghost Review or Why I don’t read Shonen
Here’s the basic plot of 07-Ghost volume 1, or as much of it as I could figure out: There’s a kid, Teito who was once a slave but is now an elite student at a military academy. He’s got his best friend Mikage and that’s pretty much it. He overhears something he shouldn’t and ends up having to hijack an aircraft. He crashes into a mountain but is saved by four (hot) bishops who take him to the church where he’s granted sanctuary and nuns give him a bath. Then, he has flashbacks and other stuff happens and a demon tries to eat his soul by giving him his one wish? But thankfully the bishops are skilled fighters and finally a mermaid shows up. Yay, a shape- shifting mermaid! He and the mermaid fall in love but he also has confusing feelings for Mikage. I made that last part up. But that’s what I wanted to happen once I got to the mute mermaid.
I realized then that I am not this book’s reader. I should probably not be its reviewer either but here I am. The problem with 07-Ghost is not that it’s a conventional shonen manga but that I’m not a conventional shonen reader because:
1 There’s about a million characters in a shonen manga and practically all of them are male. There’s only so many hairstyles you can use to differentiate the enormous testosterone driven cast and, inevitably, a few thousand of them are going to look alike. In 07-Ghost I have lost track of who’s who and it’s only the first volume.
2. The fight scenes give me vertigo. I have to hand it to the Japanese. I had never seen fighting like this until I opened a manga. It makes Batman look downright lethargic. There’s extreme close ups, fast action lines, panels crossing each other and blood splatter everywhere, it’s amazing. Unfortunately, there’s extreme close ups, fast action lines, panels crossing each other and blood splatter everywhere. I can’t keep up and usually end up flipping to the end of the battle and hope I can tell who won by who’s left standing. If the main character is in a battle that makes it easier since he’s almost certain to win.
3. The storylines are plot driven and therefore somewhat convoluted. In 07-Ghost Teito is a slave raised by a Father in the church and is a the true son of the King of Raggs. (Yes, the kingdom is actually named Raggs.) And they are protecting the Eye of Mikhail which is now in Teito but the neighboring kingdom broke a treaty and on and on and on. I can’t even get into the demons and church politics which are actually somewhat interesting. Now, if you’re a regular shonen reader you’ll probably love it. If you’re used to all the clans in Naruto then two kingdoms with about 10 Districts seems simple, I’m sure.
I have the other two volumes – thanks Go!Comi sale – so I’m going to be a trooper and stick with it. My final assessment is that it’s a conventional shonen series. It’s lacking the heart and humor of better series like Yu-gi-oh but for regular readers there is probably a lot to enjoy. Goodreads shonen readers certainly seem to like it so I trust there’s something there that I’m missing.
Best Manga of 2009
2009 is halfway over! Not wanting to finish out the rest of the year The Manga Critic presents the Half-Time Poll: Best New Manga of 2009.
Best of polls are always fun. It got me thinking about the manga that I consider “the best”. Monster is definitely on the list. I have soft spots for Death Note and Absolute Boyfriend, then there’s MW which kind of freaked me out. I don’t have a set checklist of what’s required to earn the title of “What Sadie Thinks is Best” but I do notice that the manga/graphic novels I really like have some things in common.
First, the artwork doesn’t have to be amazing but I do like when people present their own style. For example, the artwork in Nana really floors me because there is such a sensuality in the lanky characters. Just the way they lean against a wall makes me want to run to Tokyo and make out with the whole cast! It transcends the regular safe, shojo knock-kneed teenagers while also using the conventions like watery eyes and androgynous men.
Second, I have to care about the characters. I don’t necessarily have to like them but I do need to care and care deeply. Solanin has no real plot yet the characters pull me through until the end.
Finally, I have to feel some kind of emotional resonance. If a book stays with me, as they say, then I know it was worth reading.
If a manga has all those things, I usually proclaim it my favorite of all time for the week. There is no shortage of great manga out there. Heck, The Manga Critic’s list is 11 books long and it’s only the middle of the year!!! What qualifies a book as the “best” for you?
Introductory Manga
Young Bill Young here. David P. Welsh at Precocious Curmudgeon wants to know if anyone is teaching introductory Manga courses at the college level. He’s not looking for those how-to-create-Manga classes, but rather a survey course that would provide an overview and history of the art form.
And in case you’re contemplating such a course, Welsh thinks he has the perfect textbook: Paul Gravett’s Manga: Sixty Years of Japanese Comics. Commenters on his site have their own ideas for reading materials in such a course, ranging from Manga! Manga!: The World of Japanese Comics to samples of classic and groundbreaking titles.
All of this is exciting to me because I’m such a newbie to Manga. Sadie’s influence has inspired me to check out Gantz and MW, and I think I’m ready to move on to some other titles. Astro Boy and Pluto sound like the ticket right now. But I’ll definitely have to check out one of these overview titles to learn more.
So fans, what titles would be on your reading list for a Manga survey class?
