Category Archives: .Graphic Novel/Manga/Manwha

May 24, 2013 · 9:00 am

Limit (vol. 5) by Keiko Suenobu, translated by Mari Morimoto

Limit 5So we’ve arrived at the penultimate volume of one of the most hair-raising manga series I’ve ever read – because a resemblance to reality is always more disturbing that any dystopic sci-fi for sure! Bullying, domestic abuse, high school caste systems, the careless power of popularity – that’s all in here … stripped down, laid bare, in a life-and-death situation of nightmarish proportions (most especially for parents!). Creator Keiko Suenobu’s never-still panels also seem to have picked up in pace, as fatal danger readies for another strike.

The six survivors of the fatal bus crash that opened volume 1 are down to just four: One of the children has turned into a serial killer … initially by accident, but now ready to purposefully carry out a diabolically simple plan. In the name of survival, the three girls have reached an uneasy truce. Hinata, the only boy and newbie of the leftover foursome, is remembered by Konno as the supportive all-around nice-guy at school. His initial encouragement of “Let’s all go home together” is now a tragically impossible dream … especially with the body count threatening to rise yet again. The desperate rescue mission continues, but can help arrive in time?

The final volume (shudder, shudder) debuts this summer: Who will be left standing? Parents, you’ve been duly warned …!!

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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May 10, 2013 · 8:53 am

Thermae Romae II by Mari Yamazaki, translated by Stephen Paul

Thermae Romae 2To get to know our time-traveling bather, start with Volume I. When in Thermae Romae, you need to do as this Roman does and find out how he journeys back and forth between far-spanning centuries and cultures with one thing in common – an obsession with the bath.

If the cover looks familiar, Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prize-winning creator Mari Yamazaki explains how she risked marital peace to parody “one of the greatest works of ancient Roman sculpture,” Laocoön and His Sons. In spite of her husband’s angry reaction, she insists that her version of Laocoön “wearing a shampoo hat to keep the shampoo out of his eyes” is not such a far stretch: “I’m sure Laocoön washed his fair from time to time, and if he did massage his scalp, he certainly must have struck poses like the one on the cover.” You’ll find that sort of goofy humor on almost every page, all the while learning quite a bit about ancient Roman history, and modern Japanese bathing culture. Yamazaki will entertainingly convince you how such two seemingly disparate topics are actually quite related.

As Volume II begins, Lucius is a favorite of Emperor Hadrian, renowned as the innovative bath architect. In an act of potentially fatal jealousy, Senate members plot to get Lucius out of Rome with a ruse about a creating a new thermae in an area overrun by violent bandits. What happens instead is a bit of brilliant marketing, inspired by Lucius’ timely visit to a Japanese hot spring town where he wins big at a game booth, discovers kitschy souvenirs, and tastes his first bowl of steaming ramen and juicy gyoza. With further unpredictable forays into the land of the “flat-faces” (the phrase still bugs me, but not quite as much this second time around), Lucius learns to build a wooden barrel single bath shippable to the hinterlands, and how to balance the most gaudiest demands with just enough elegantly-tempered details.

Then half-way through the volume, Hadrian’s adopted heir (profligately portrayed by Yamazaki with apologies later – artistic license, right?) dies. With Hadrian’s own health less than robust, Lucius becomes determined to create something soothingly rejuvenating for his Imperator. His search magically sends him to meet “such a beautiful flat-face” as he’s never seen before … who just happens to be an ancient Roman scholar who speaks perfect Latin! Talk about back to the future … in centur-ion leaps!

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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May 3, 2013 · 9:39 am

Avatar: The Last Airbender | The Search (Part One) created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, script by Gene Luen Yang, art by Gurihiru, lettering by Michael Heisler

Avatar Search1To find out what prompts this eponymous ‘search,’ you’ll need to read the three-part Promise – which reveals how Aang and Zuko are actually family (surprise!), and why family matters so much. “Family is in essence a small nation, and the nation a large family … in treating a family with dignity, a ruler learns to govern his nation with dignity,” an elder expounds to a gathering of young leaders in the city of Yu Dao, “the prototype for a new kind of city, one that unites the four nations.”

Aang, of course, is there, as is Zuko … who is solemnly affected by the wise man’s words: “I put my father in a prison and my sister in an institution. My mother’s been banished for years. What does that mean for my nation?” Zuko questions. And so the all-important search begins … for answers, for family. [Speaking of family, how thrilled are we that 2006 National Book Award finalist Gene Luen Yang continues to script these all-new Avatar adventures?!!]

Once upon a time, Ursa and Ikem were in love, expecting to spend forever together. But then-Fire Lord Azulon had other plans, determined to bind his family line with that of then-Avatar Roku’s. And so the stage was set for destruction: Ursa wed Fire Prince Ozai, who forced her to cut off all ties to her family and her hometown of Hira’a. After Ursa bore two royal children, she disappeared without a trace.

Years later, Zuko is convinced that finding his mother is the only way to achieve lasting peace. He releases his violent, unpredictable younger sister Azula in exchange for vital information she has about their mother; at his request – and against their better judgment – Aang, Katara, and Sokka join the antagonistic siblings on a journey back to Hira’a … but answers, of course, are rarely obvious and family dysfunction is never easily overcome.

Zuko’s about to discover the secret of his life (literally!) … and, of course, when he does, the volume ends (!) right there (!!!) and we’re forced back to waiting, and waiting. At least June is only a month away, harrumph. Who made the mistake of insisting patience is a virtue?

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2013

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· 9:33 am

Avatar: The Last Airbender | The Promise (Part Three) created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino, script by Gene Luen Yang, art by Gurihiru, lettering by Michael Heisler

Avatar Promise 3Okay, since this is the third and last part of this specific Avatar series, let’s go back and catch up here … and yes, order matters!

Part Three opens with war – in the pouring rain, wreaking havoc on earth, throwing around fire as lightning threatens, the air aswirl in chaos and destruction. The Fire colonies will not budge out of the Earth Kingdom, and the Harmony Restoration Movement is not even close to reaching peace.

Friendships and alliances are threatened and tested; worst of all, looms the titular ‘promise’ Aang made to kill Zuko, at his request, “if you ever see me turning into my father.” As tempers flare, Zuko finds himself battling his father’s demands, even as the former Fire Lord Ozai remains imprisoned. Torn and twisted, Aang must find a way to reclaim peace, even if it means challenging the ones he most loves and respects.

On the brink of vast, irreparable destruction, the Avatar teaches us, of course, that violence is never the answer – indeed, banding together for peace proves most powerful of all. If we can train young minds through such entertaining adventures now, surely the next generations will make that peace a lasting reality? I’ll willingly stick with that narrative …

Oh, and speaking of sticky – check out who and how boba tea got invented back in the day. Talk about an Uncle Iroh (who was voiced in the animated series by the legendary actor Mako before he passed away!) ahead of his time! So surprisingly sweet, indeed.

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2012

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April 19, 2013 · 9:54 am

Limit (vol. 4) by Keiko Suenobu, translated by Mari Morimoto

Limit 4First things first: make sure to go backwards to catch up with the opening three volumes; this is definitely a series that needs to be read in order. Parents, be warned: these kids are going to scare you to distraction. Younger readers, take heed: don’t dare try any of this at home – or anywhere else for that matter.

Five became six when another survivor – the lone male – mysteriously emerged from the woods one volume back. But too soon, the six shrink to five again when frightened Usui is found lying face down on the first page of this latest installment.

The wound on her back clearly shows she’s been murdered … and Morishige is the first to be accused. But Morishige – for all her payback bullying – is too easy a target and the other four are forced to question each other as well as their own selves. Blinded by fear and fury, the survivors turn on one another. By volume’s end, another body lies motionless, and scrawled across the final pages is the chilling warning: “Among us … hides a killer.” Volume 5 can’t come soon enough.

This week feels especially off-kilter: Boston Marathon bombings and manhunt, ricin-laced letters sent to Capitol Hill and POTUS, the Senate’s latest decision on the gun debate with Newtown families watching, Thursday’s Waco fertilizer blast one day short of the 20th anniversary of the final hours of the Waco Siege, the Waco-inspired Oklahoma City bombing 18 years ago today. In the midst of all that, our children seem to be the most vulnerable – from just watching the violence from afar and forming unforgettable images, to being targeted in various degrees closer to home.

When confronted with the disturbing, I find the questions don’t stop: so when all the carefully maintained social contracts – rigid high school structures (for better or for worse), parental and other adult guidance, even the legal system – are suddenly cast aside in the name of survival, how will our children respond? And what can and should and must we do to adequately equip and enable them?

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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April 12, 2013 · 9:00 pm

Sorako by Fujimura Takayuki, translated by GEN Manga

SorakoHaving discovered manga/manwha on the verge of being old, I often have these delicious moments of ‘gaaaah’-wonder at coming across something original in the graphic industry. So here’s a not-quite-three-years-old publishing niche I recently learned about – I know! What took me so long?!

Meet GEN Manga, purveyors of Indie Manga from the Tokyo Underground, which promises that “GEN stories are published nowhere else in the world. They come straight from the artists in Japan to you. We translate the stories and put them out as they are created.”

While most of GEN’s output thus far – available digitally, or in limited print editions – is via serialized issues of manga and (more recently added) manwha (manga with Korean origins), they’ve also begun offering standalone books. GEN’s latest is a loose collection of slice-of-life episodes that vary in quality and length about an intermittently job-searching young woman named Sorako. The opening sequence is one of the longest, and certainly the most developed, as it introduces Sorako who is waiting for the missing family dog Toma to return. Sorako named Toma after noticing the kanji character for ‘stop’ (止) marking the road on her way home the day the puppy joined the family. Sorako, too, is currently at a stopping point, caught in a limbo of inaction, a sharp contrast to her own name which means ‘a child of the sky.’

Of the shorter, less memorable pieces is a two-page interlude in which Sorako decides that she might swim off a few pounds, but the lack of a swimming cap easily dissuades her from her plans. Again, for now, she’s more comfortable stopping (止) than soaring. In other episodes, a young woman working in a coffee shop dreams of going to England as she practices English with an unseen television voice alone at night, Sorako’s less-than-earnest job search gets a reprieve when she breaks her leg, and in the final story, a young married woman tries to decide if she’s going to study abroad or not (and we see that same ‘stop’ (止) character four pages from the end, this time positioned (cleverly) in the opposite direction.

Sorako is comprised of “indie stories (doujinshi, or independent) so the author creates them as she likes,” explains GEN’s Editor-in-Chief Robert McGuire. “There is no conformity to conventional standards or directional content editing as usually is the case with manga. In other words, she is free, as all artists are at GEN Manga, to experiment. However, because of this a certain amount of avant-garde or unconventionality is common. Readers should enjoy and expect a more artistic approach when reading them. GEN Manga strives to represent otherwise unseen indie manga as it is made in ‘doujinshi circles’ in Japan.”

So there you have it. Unique and uncensored, to expect the unexpected. That’s quite a return for the mere $2.99 digital investment.

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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April 5, 2013 · 10:04 am

Jerusalem: A Family Portrait by Boaz Yakin and Nick Bertozzi, based on a story by Boaz Yakin and Moni Yakin, with art director Chris Sinderson

Jerusalem famly portraitSome years back, during a discussion about what was then the latest tragic news coming out of the Middle East, a friend’s mother softly remarked about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, “The absolute worst arguments happen among families.” She (the widow of conservative rabbi) was referring specifically to the shared Abrahamic ancestry of Jews, Muslims, and Christians. From Cain and Abel onward, too much of history – and not just religious history – has proven the truth in Mommy’s simple statement.

Welcome to Jerusalem, “… a stubborn little slab of reality that nevertheless shimmers like a mirage before the eyes of both the made and the sane, united them into a single brotherhood of dreamers, murderers, and poets.” The ‘family’ of the subtitle is the Halaby clan, originally from Syria, who arrive in the foothills of Jerusalem in 1893. A half century later, the family is bookended by two sons with four sisters in between: the elder, Yakov, is a wealthy community leader; Izak, six years younger, is always on the verge of ruin, mostly at the hands of his own brother. Yakov’s childhood animosity – ”… overcome by jealousy at the attention lavished on his brother, [Yakov] vowed never to allow Izak a moment’s peace” – remains a trenchant reality, even into middle age.

During the violent, tumultuous 1940s leading up to the declaration of an independent state of Israel in 1948, the Halaby brothers and their families live vastly different lives. Yakov manages to maintain stability and comfort – luxury, even – all the while tormenting Izak, even causing his brother’s imprisonment when Izak is unable to keep up with loan payments. While Izak is virtually powerless, his angry, often cruel, wife desperately tries to keep her family together. Their sons’ reactions to their threatened lives vary significantly: one joins hands with his Muslim neighbors to serve the Communist Party, one leaves the family to fight abroad, one becomes entangled with an extremist anti-British underground network, and the youngest grows his reputation as a street hoodlum. The neverending conflict beyond the disparate Halabys is magnified within their relationships with one another … in spite of glimmering moments of haunting hope, tragedy proves inevitable – again and again and again.

“Inspired by stories told to him by his father,” author Boaz Yakin – perhaps better known as a filmmaker (Now You See Me, Prince of Persia, Remember the Titans) – unwinds the Halaby history with unflinching detail, brought to the page by veteran graphic illustrator Nick Bertozzi whose images never stand still. As in too many families in conflict, winners and losers prove indiscernible … the only truth is that people suffer, and always, the children most of all.

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013

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March 26, 2013 · 9:27 am

21st Century Boys (vol. 2) by Naoki Urasawa, with the cooperation of Takashi Nagasaki, English adaptation by Akemi Wegmüller

21st Century Boys 2So why is it that all good things are supposed to come to an end? I’d be perfectly happy with another 20 more volumes. Really, is that too much to ask?

With an enormously huffy sigh of resignation, I moaningly offer a final post for Naoki Urasawa’s 20th-into-21st Century Boys. Yup, this is it. Really. The series stops here.

The Friend might be dead, but total annihilation still looms. Kenji’s gone virtual, searching for desperate answers by confronting his own 20th-century-boy past in order to find the anti-proton bomb detonator and prevent the latest threat to world destruction. Meanwhile, Kanna is out in the real world trying to find the same remote control, even as less-than-cooperative representatives of the supposed-to-be-peacekeeping UN Forces think she’s the “devil’s daughter” and impede her any way they can. While everyone is on high-octane search mode, the Giant Robot suddenly starts moving … ready to initiate Armageddon one last time. Be warned: “All kinds of stuff up the road for you, kid …”

I only wish that meant more Urasawa ‘stuff’ for me, sniff-sniff. First Monster, then Pluto, and now 20th-21st Century Boys. All finished! Withdrawal starts now. I guess I can always line up all 18 + 8 + 24 volumes, respectively, and have my own in-denial-mangafest … maybe facing the endings get easier the 16th time around or so?

Oh, Naoki Urasawa – wherefore art thou my next series?

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)
21 SEIKI SHONEN © Naoki Urasawa/Studio Nuts
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc.

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March 22, 2013 · 9:47 am

The Heart of Thomas by Moto Hagio, translated with an introduction by Matt Thorn

Heart of Thomas“They say a person dies twice. / First comes the death of the self. / Then, later, comes the death of being forgotten by friends. / If that is so, / I shall never know that second death. / … In this way / I shall always be alive / in his eyes.”

Angelic middle-schooler Thomas Werner is dead – his first death happened as he fell from a snowy train overpass. With a final letter he leaves addressed to Juli, the slightly older, unattainable object of his devotion, Thomas bypasses his “second death” forever: ”… one last time. This is my love. This is the sound of my heart. Surely you must understand.”

While Juli tries desperately to escape the undying sound of Thomas’ heart, a new transfer student arrives at the boys’ German boarding school. Erich Frühling (his last name means the season ‘spring’ in German – a not-so-subtle hint at rebirth, second chance?) is an exact replica of the dead young Thomas. Juli’s roommate Oskar tries to protect Juli, Thomas’ friend and rival Ante hopes to take Thomas’ adored place in the school hierarchy, and the school’s oldest boys attempt to keep their manipulative machinations in play. Everyone seems to have a secret that could lead to the final destruction of desperate Juli. Somehow, in the looming shadow of Thomas’ tragic death, Juli must figure out how to reclaim his own life  …

Moto Hagio’s almost half-century of creating massively popular, award-winning innovative manga seems to be have limited reach in English translation. Thus far, only three of her major titles, including A Drunken Dream and Other Stories in 2010, have arrived Stateside, thanks to the tenacious translating efforts of Matt Thorn, a lauded manga scholar based in Japan. Underlining Hagio’s pioneering reputation, Thorn provides a thorough contextual overview of modern shōjo manga – titles marketed predominantly to girls 10-18 – including Hagio’s role as shōjo‘s ”founding mother.”

For readers looking for impossible adventures filled with aliens and explosions, this emotionally volatile manga would probably not satisfy. That said, Heart of Thomas is already some 30 years old in its native Japan during which time it was transformed onto both stage and live-action film; it’s certainly proved its lasting effects. Never mind the rockets, sometimes turbulent feelings can take you much, much further …

Tidbit: Thorn is such the conscientious translator that almost immediately upon publication – on the day after his wedding, he notes – he discovered a few mistakes and omissions from the U.S. edition and immediately posted a list of errata on his blog and on the Amazon page in the comments section! Will most readers notice? Probably not, but for those who do, careful corrections await.

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2013 (United States)

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March 15, 2013 · 8:50 am

Thermae Romae I by Mari Yamazaki, translated by Stephen Paul

Thermae RomaeRome, 128 AD. Even back then architects had a hard time finding work. Poor, poor Lucius – in spite of his fancy Athens training, his designs are considered “half-baked,” and he finds himself “blacklisted out of the industry.” Instead of sulking, an old friend convinces him to go soaking … in a public bath, the ancient Roman answer to all problems.

Somehow he gets himself pulled into a mysterious drain … and pops up in modern Japan, of course in a traditional bath. Understandably bewildered, Lucius has enough wits to make mental notes, so when he miraculous time-travels back home, his next bathhouse design is a local sensation – complete with ‘out-of-the-world’ improvements including calming wall murals, weekly announcement boards, clothing baskets for customers, and refreshing milk drinks (Yakult, anyone?).

Volume I includes 10 such time-traveling ‘research trips’ for Lucius, whose growing reputation eventually gets him noticed by Emperor Hadrian. And, of course, the aging leader must have a unique bath of his own! Lucius continues to entice the public with his latest designs – from outdoor hot springs to water slides (!) – based on what he learns from the modern, bath-obsessed Japanese. Each chapter is yet another bubbly adventure.

For award-winning creator Mari Yamazaki, “Rome & Baths” are the loves of her life: “Perhaps shared nakedness in the presence of hot water is a basic principle of peace,” she muses. If only world leaders could be so easily convinced, ahem!

At the end of each chapter, Yamazaki offers an entertaining mixture of Roman history, cultural insight, and personal experiences, all about baths and bathing from around over the world. As delightful as this inaugural volume is, my one cringe-inducing complaint might be Yamazaki’s reference to “those flat-faces,” complete with occasional caricatured, stereotypical representations whenever Lucius gets sucked out of his universe. I’d like to think that since Yamazaki herself is Japanese-born, with peripatetic stopovers in the Middle East, Italy, and Portugal, and being currently Chicago-domiciled, hers is such a broad, international outlook that my discontent is merely a sign of my own oversensitive training. That’s what I’m telling myself for now, because I utterly admit I’m certainly looking forward to sharing more of Lucius’ hothouse innovations. Volume 2 debuts in May …

Readers: Young Adult, Adult

Published: 2012 (United States)

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