Case Closed

The anime dominates Japanese airwaves, while the manga has happily chugged along for 20 years.  For whatever reason the series has never caught on quite as strongly in English-speaking territories, and even though we’re still currently still over 30 volumes behind, any series that hits its 50^th volume over here has done a damn good job.

Detective Conan/Case Closed is a whodunnit series following Jimmy Kudo as he solves murder cases with style and finesse.  His fame gets the better of him one day as he falls foul to a crime syndicate who poisons him with an untested drug.  The result is a physical change where he reverts back to having the body of a child.  Taking on a false identity to protect his loved, he continues to solve crimes while protecting his true identity.

 

 Case Closed is far too long to have a singular story with a solid beginning, middle and end, and as such it is also not the kind of series you can read in large chunks over extended sittings.  The writing is densely packed onto the pages and the segmented procession of murder cases takes precedence over Jimmy getting his old body back.  There is no hurry in solving the bigger mysteries as we get to know the wide recurring cast.  This laid back approach may bother some readers, but if you’re happy watching something like Poirot which by and large exists as individual stories, there will be little to object to here.

Buy a couple volumes and take your time, Case Closed isn’t going anywhere.

Top Fifteen of Manga: 2013

Obviously I am restricted only to things that I’ve personally read, which on that grand scale of things isn’t all that much, so please take my top 15 as one opinion of many (for example this year was a quiet one for shojo at my end), and of course feel free to recommend your own. :-)  The traditional top ten has been upgraded to 15 as there were a lot of interesting titles this year.  I also wanted to keep the variety up.  As a personal set rule I’m only considering titles which have been physically published in English this year – no ebook shenanigans here.

Yotsuba&! 12 – We only get one volume of this series a year, but it’s always worth the wait.  The everyday tales of a five-years-old as she experiences new things in each chapter is told with a gentle ease.  It’s a happy little manga with appealing, and undeniably quirky, characters and outstanding background artwork.

Crayon Shinchan 4 – Underdog publisher One Peace has somehow managed to release more Shinchan than anyone else.  It does recycle the defunct CMX’s translations, so it remains to be seen if more of the naughty 5-year-old’s adventures will arrive or not.  Compare this one to Yotsuba if you’re feeling brave.  While you’re distracted by one optimistic portrayal of a growing child, the other has snuck off to gleefully strain out a turd into your bath.

Unico – It’s hard to imagine this is the first time I’ve ever mentioned Osamu Tezuka’s work on this blog, particularly as I’m quite a big fan.  Even if one of his titles isn’t particularly successful, Tezuka’s comics are continually inventive have a lot for your brain to work with.  Unico stands out of this year’s crop for not only being printed in full colour, but of its life starting out as a kickstarter project.  DMP since went on to fund even more titles, and eventually acquired the God of Manga’s entire output.  It remains to be seen what else will be translated and the format/s in which they will reach us.

The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame – Strictly an adult title this one, and anyone familiar with the term ‘bara’ will automatically know what to expect from this book.  This volume’s existence makes it unique in English-speaking territories, which alone makes it worthy of note.  To be honest I’d only really recommend it to already interested parties, but those wanting more extreme titles in their manga collection, or just to widen its general variety, they will definitely find something new here.

Bakuman 18-20 – The end of the manga-making series.  Comics about making comics aren’t all that unusual, but for the action-centric land of Shonen Jump it did a lot to make a couple of guys sitting at their desks seem really involved and exciting.  Additional fun can be had under the consideration that Bakuman’s creators toy with parodying themselves, decrying their own creative inefficiencies and dictating the manner of its own editorial progression by bringing it up throughout the main story.  Lots of fun, just please don’t take it as a work of non-fiction.

Attack on Titan 4-9 – This was already turning a lot of heads last year, but once the anime launched this year Attack on Titan’s popularity exploded.  It’s sat consistently at the top of sales charts both in the west and in Japan, so it’s just as well it’s not a bad read at all with overwrought drama to accompany its brutal violence.  Volume 9 pushed the series beyond the scope of the anime, so now is a good time to jump on in.

Gundam: The Origin 1-4 – I’ve tried and failed more than once, but I’m just not that big of a Gundam fan.  Despite that this manga is still a good pick as it chronicles the original series well and is showcased in slick hardbacks.  The paper quality is good and coloured artwork is peppered throughout.  Some of the best production values you’ll see in a manga.  Ever.

Genshiken Season Two 2-3 – The second generation of the Genshiken club is well underway as the male otaku graduate and make way for the fujoshi.  Maybe it’s all one big comment on the changing landscape of fandom, so it will be interesting to see what kinds of people join the club in future.  For now though Genshiken is a friendly manga of well-written dialogue that pulls you into what is perhaps the most down-to-earth representation of otaku life in comic form.

The Last of the Mohicans – Outside of Osamu Tezuka, it’s quite rare that we get to see a manga from before the 1970s.  This offering from 1953 is an interesting look at a manga that absorbed American influences before reworking it for Japanese audiences.  Though obviously for children at the time, I can’t help but think the English version is only really aimed at adult audiences, which is a bit of a shame and possibly missing a trick.  A curiosity piece to be sure and hopefully will get more people interested in older works.

Helter Skelter – Liliko does everything she can to stay relevant in the cutthroat world of modelling.  Helter Skelter is an uncompromising rock ‘n’ roll ride where superficial beauty is countered with aggressive insecurity.  We don’t get as many josei titles over here as I’d like, and books like this are the reason I want more.

Doroheodoro 9-11 - We’re really getting into personal favourite territory now… it’s an opinion blog though, so it’s allowed!  Dorohedoro continues on its path – a path to which no one seems to know the destination.  This bothers some readers, but honestly I love it.  Dorohedoro depicts a very strange and dark world, but is grounded by an oddball cast who bicker their way through mushroom spells and casual occurrences of violent death.  The colour pages ended way back in volume 3, but otherwise full respect to Viz Media for sticking with this one.

Slam Dunk 26-31 – The final volumes of a genuine manga classic.  Not only did you learn to care about the characters, but also basketball.  The western manga market traditionally regards sports titles as a doomed prospect, but this one bucked the trend.  I’m going to miss it.

I’ll Give it My All… Tomorrow 5 – The chronicling the life of a middle-aged man in a dead end job while trying to make it as a manga artist.  It inevitably goes to some pretty dark places and to be honest it really had the potential to make me die inside depending on how the ending played out.  Luckily the finale was sane, realistic and not the end of the world, with a message that even if you aren’t 100% successful in life you can still made a positive impact on the people around you.  This book was one of my favourite single volumes of manga from this year.

Natsume’s Book of Friends 13-14 – Natsume is a boy with the ability to see yokai and other spirits, so he isolates himself so as not to endanger his loved ones.  Accompanied by the grouchy Nyanko-sensei, the two form a pact and defend the powerful Book of Friends.  This is an inhibited manga of fragile emotions which has no real aims other than to overcome loneliness.  Consistently wonderful.

Real 12 – I’m a big fan of Slam Dunk, but I consider Takehiko Inoue’s current manga on wheelchair basketball to be the superior work.  Its atypical subject matter is handled honestly and not without a certain amount of wit.  Each character holds their own as they each confront their own personal development, able-bodied or otherwise.  Volume 12 is just another chunk of the ongoing story really, but as a whole piece of work it is to me a near-unrivalled work of brilliance.

Tenjo Tenge - Complete

After 11 2-in-1 volumes released at a fairly merciless rate, Tenjo Tenge reaches its conclusion, and to be honest, I’m kind of glad it’s over.

I’ve spoken about this series before, enjoying its mindless indulgence of boobs and violence as it smacks its way through thousands of pages, and it really should have stayed its course.  Sadly the series starts to believe its own hype by upping the drama and becoming damn-near incomprehensible.  Suddenly the simple premise of a martial arts tournament becomes a po-faced battle fought both on the physical and spiritual planes where the world is at stake in between multi-generational conspiracies.  Flashbacks bounce around between multiple timelines and the core cast get lost in a steady stream of a dead-end side characters and plots that add little to the overall mix.

The artwork has improved immensely since the first volume and now provides some of the most clean and technically accomplished work in a mainstream manga.  Every page has impact, but telling the difference between someone getting mauled only metaphorically while other characters receive permanent damage only causes confusion.  Seeing a character ripped apart for example, only for them to get back up on the next page lessens the dramatic impact for when things actually do happen.  It continually undermines itself by psyching you out at every turn.

Oh Great! does great work and easily impresses on a visual level, and Tenjo Tenge produces one crazy ride overall, but in terms of concise storytelling there’s still room for improvement (I’ve read a chunk of Air Gear, and to be honest I have a similar opinion of it).  Go to be dazzled, but not fulfilled.

Random Whale Metaphor

Manga-Making Manga!

 

You may or may not already know, but in between my manga reading I dabble in the world drawing, comic making, and otherwise wannabe artist-type person.  It’s a time-consuming but satisfying way to apply yourself but yes, I’ve not been tending very well to this blog because of it.  Sorry about that!  In recognition that there are many people who also enjoy drawing and such, I thought it’d be fun to have a super-quick rundown of manga about drawing manga!

There’s no real order of preference here, but the general trend is to start with the most positive titles and work my way down to the more bitter levels of creativity.

Bakuman  – Probably the most famous title on this list.  It tells the tale of two boys who decide to become manga artists in Shonen Jump, and succeed pretty damn quickly.  Rapid success of any sort is basically the only reason I need to put it first on this list.  The creative discussions between the various creatives are interesting and valid to anyone who’s thought about their plotting, whereas the internal politics of Jump’s editorial system should be taken more with a pinch of salt.  Needless to say it’s spawned a generation of ‘experts’ on the Internet who can now make insightful opinions on why certain manga do or don’t succeed.  That may sound cynical, so perhaps it’s better to think that encouraging people to think about comics more critically is a good thing.  I’ll leave it at that…

Comic Party (Tokyopop) – Moving away from professional manga making and into the world of doujinshi (self-published fan comics).  Comic Party is about a failed artist who becomes involved in making his own comics.  He works hard, sell a couple comics, and makes some friends along the way.  It’s the idealised model of starting out as an amateur artist, and a cute read.

Comic Party (CPM Manga) – An interesting spin-off series of books that contain actual doujinshi based on the original Comic Party series.  Some of the comics aren’t so great, but that’s not the point. It’s quite a rare to be given a chance to own translated doujin in this manner, and I feel gives a more accurate representation of the kinds of things you’re likely to find at your average Comiket rather than the back-to-back porn that otherwise seems to filter its way over here.

Pretty Maniacs – The chronicles of a school Manga Club that works together to build its membership and sell its own comics at Comiket.  Less time is dedicated to the drawing part of comic-making, but more to the production side of things.  I now know how to compile, trim and bind my own perfect bound book which, to my knowledge, is a rather unique aspect of this manga.  Not exactly deep, but it’s high on humour and enthusiasm.

Dojin Work – Changing the romanised spelling of a Japanese word at the mid-point of an article, I’ve already written about Dojin Work elsewhere on this blog.  If Comic Party were a cute little puppy, Dojin Work would be the runt who’s humping your leg.  Scraping through an event where selling a single copy of your comic is considered a victory, and then making your next comic a porno in a desperate attempt to get more sales.  This is comic-making for the cynics, and frankly not totally unjustified in its approach.   A personal favourite and I always have a couple volumes to hand when I’m trying to hit a deadline.

Even a Monkey Can Draw Manga – Two guys in a room decide they will conquer the world with manga.  To do this, they need to make manga that will appeal to every audience in every style, and so mercilessly tear through every cliché and archetype that can be found in manga.  Pointing out weak storytelling is normally a criticism, but here it is something to use, celebrate and then exploit.  It’s funny, almost to the point at which you’d think the creators hold manga with contempt.  But there’s a special kind of love there, and I share it with them.

I’ll Give it My All… Tomorrow – This series is about a deadbeat guy who’s hit middle age and so decides to become a manga artist in between his shifts at a fast-food joint.  His comics suck, his father tells him he’s wasting his time, but he maintains a self-belief throughout which frankly without would make him the most miserable man alive.  It’s a comic that encourages the reader to judge the protagonist in the early stages, but as time goes on you gradually fall in line with his near-delusions of success.  You may not succeed as an artist, but so long as you’re trying and enjoying life, it is a life worth living.  There’s always a chance you’ll succeed… right?

I’m sure there’s a bunch more manga I forgot about, as well as those that feature creating, but are not a central part of the story (School Rumble is one example).  For those inspired to draw forget about those ‘How to Draw Manga…’ books.  The best way to learn how to draw is to draw, and the best way to understand comics is to read them.  Have fun!

RalΩGrad

 

The team of Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata seems pretty much invincible when it comes to dialogue-led manga.  Death Note came out and gained legions of fans and Bakuman pretty much did the same again, but what happens when that team is broken up?  RalΩGrad (we’re informed not to pronounce that omega) has the same artist, but the impact of a different writer is interesting to read.

Ral is a prince possessed by a shadow at birth which has the power to assimilate and consume its host.   With the threat of his transformation imminent, Ral is locked into a prison without light before he can attack his father’s kingdom.  Over the years Ral forms a pact with his shadow (Grad) to work together as equals, and when asked to defend their home from invasion, they fight together against a common enemy.

RalΩGrad’s biggest problem is its dumping too much information on its readers.  The unnecessarily convoluted descriptions on shadow classes (who basically range from possessed humans to full-blown monsters) and the endless world-building starts to take its toll on story progression.  The fights could’ve acted as a break to even things out, but they are tactical in nature with an equal emphasis on dialogue as much as action.  Also working against it are overly-complicated monster designs that are squeezed onto the pages.  Even at the end of the final volume I still couldn’t really tell you what Grad looks like as we never get a proper look at him.  Essentially the comic’s trying too hard to impress and doesn’t find much time to relax.

It’s not quite as bad as I’m making out though.  The artwork is amazingly detailed and Obata’s clearly gone all out after his stint on the more internally dramatic Death Note (great manga, but for an artist drawing a guy writing in a note book it’s not much to play with).  I also really enjoyed the crude sense of humour of  Ral and his penchant for ‘boobies’.  For a shonen manga this contains a lot more nudity than you’d expect as he nuzzles in on many a nearby cleavage.  It’s really stupid, and helps things from becoming too po-faced in an otherwise typical and straight-laced manga.

With only a 4 volume run, this is a brief and rushed affair.  Far be it from me to give a manga a bad review, but I found it difficult to read at time due to its sheer density.  Most manga can be read in a matter of minutes, but it took several attempt to fight through.  This is stodgy stuff and perhaps only really worth checking out for curious Death Note fans.