Manga a Day: Junjo Romantica vol 3

Amazon.com: JUNJO ROMANTICA Volume 3: (Yaoi) (Junjo Romantica): Books: Shungiku Nakamura ISBN: 1598167219 ISBN-13: 9781598167214

Posting late again because I was distracted by TV. I have a fascination for bad Dancing themed movies. So of course when I saw Center Stage, a truly bad movie about ballet was on, I had to watch.

The rest of my books arrived along with the third volume of Junjo Romantica (I talked about volumes 1 & two earlier week. The third volume continues with the dual storylines from the first two, though this volume had three chapters of Junjo Romantica (Misaki and Akihiko) and only two of Junjo Egoist.

In the continuing adventures of college freshman Misaki and award winning novelist Akihiko Usami (nicknamed Usagi), Misaki wonders if sleeping with Usagi and liking it makes him gay. (Yes, yes it does, duh.) Then he angst about if they're actually a couple or if they're dating. To sooth his fears (when surprise-sex doesn't work) Usagi decides to take him out on a high class date. It gets uncomfortable when another man, publishing president Isaka-san, crashes the date and makes snide comments to Misaki about Usagi. After Isaka-san is dragged away by his secretary (male of course) they continue with their date, with a short break for more surprise-sex.

Thus reassured of their relationship (only not really at all) all seems to be going well for the pair until Misaki's older brother calls. It turns out that Takahiro is coming back from Osaka with his young wife and want Misaki to move back in with them. Will he go? Duh, there's another chapter of Romantica in this volume, so it's just another excuse for angst and surprise sex. Then they go to Sapporo for...no, not surprise sex but for Marimo balls. Get your mind out of the gutter! They're cute little moss balls that grow in water. ( I want one, they're like pet rocks, but wet and fuzzy.)

Junjo Egoist is all over story-wise, and the two chapters don't really mesh well together. The first chapter is rather cute with the proud Hiroki looking after an under-the-weather Nowaki. But after having a typical lover's spat (and makeup sex), the next chapter starts out with a date between the two of them and then zooms into a chapter long flashback of past relationship of Hiroki's. And it ends with a cliffhanger! What's up with that? 

The artwork does seem to have improved, at least in proportions. I didn't notice any of Usagi's appendages swelling up. (Hands! I mean HANDS!) Though I have to say, Nowaki looked different, in this volume. He looks older and I can't figure out if it's intentional (as in time as passed and he's aged) or just maturing artwork.

testing

just seeing if I've messed it all up!

Manga A Day: Perfect Day for Love Letters 2

Amazon.com: A Perfect Day for Love Letters 2 (Perfect Day for Love Letters (Graphic Novels)): Books: George Asakura ISBN: 0345482670 ISBN-13: 9780345482679

A Perfect Day For Love Letters 2 is a collection of short stories by George Asakura. It's a nice thick volume with six different stories with one common thread. There is some kind of love letter involved. This continues from the theme of the first volume, though that one was a bit more lyrical and romantic then this one. (From what I remember, it's been a while since I read that.)

If I had to describe the overall theme of all the stories it would be "learning to be honest." Even the bonus story that didn't have a love letter has that as a theme. In some stories it's adolescent awkwardness that makes you say something that's opposite from what you feel, or anger and jealousy making you dishonest. The stories range from romantic, sweet, painful and sad. I love me some short stories, especially well crafted ones like these. It's hard to tell a complete and meaningful story in just a 30 pages. 

One thing I really like is the different forms the love letters take. Fax, cell phone emails, video tapes, exchange journals and even actual letters! I think the first story with the faxes was my favorite. I really liked the image of all the faxes pegged up on the wall, even though it was never drawn out fully. Asakura's artwork is rough, and inconsistent. At times the characters look out of proportion and oddly placed in their frames, other times the artwork seems sophisticated and carefully artless.

I'd almost like to see these stories redone with an artist that has a more polished style. But then I wonder if taking away the awkward artwork would detract from the story. So much of it feels like adolescent angst that the gangly and spare artwork seems to fit.

Manga A Day: Nana vol 1,2,3 and 4

Amazon.com: Nana, Volume 1: Books: Ai Yazawa ISBN: 1421501082 ISBN-13: 9781421501086

Amazon.com: Nana, Volume 2 (Nana): Books: Ai Yazawa ISBN: 1421503786 ISBN-13: 9781421503783

Amazon.com: Nana, Volume 3 (Nana): Books: Ai Yazawa ISBN: 1421504790 ISBN-13: 9781421504797

Amazon.com: Nana, Volume 4 (Nana): Books: Ai Yazawa ISBN: 1421504804 ISBN-13: 9781421504803

Day four of my manga a day I decided to talk about the first four volumes of Nana, which I finally sat down to read. This is my second favorite way to read manga, in large chunks. The best way being a chapter at a time as it's being released, because then you can get fully involved in the fandom and talk with friends about it and get fully involved. But I missed that boat with Nana, mostly on purpose because I could tell it was a story that was going to annoy me. (oh, and I have no idea what happened with the formatting on my last enty, one of the paragraphs decided to completely re-arranged itself, it should be fixed now.)

I don't know why I keep reading Ai Yazawa works. I always want to knock the main characters over the head. I am just not the kind of person who likes stories that are just about heartbreak and personal angst. But then I look at the artwork and I remember why. I love artists with a distinctive style and "distinctive" describes Yazawa to a T.

Besides the immediately recognizable "Yazawa" character designs, she's got rich photographic backgrounds and really wonderful sense of dramatic layout. Plus, her characters have lips. Expressive lips. I love Yazawa's lips. Not just the girls, look at Shoji or Yasu's mouth it tells you exactly how they're feeling... even if their eyebrows are hidden. (Most Manga-ka depend on eyebrows to "make" the expression.)

And of course you can't discuss Yazawa art without mentioning the fashion. I love that the two Nanas are to distinctive. I love Hachi's retro style, and you can tell Yazawa really understands the style even down to the construction of the garments. I could reverse engineer most of the clothes in Nana just from the pictures. (I'm often tempted too, at least as dolls and doll clothes. Little Nana dolls would be so cute.) Nana O's style is cool too, something I can picture my heavily tattooed punk sister wearing. And I love the little touches like the sequential covers on 1-4. Does this continue through the whole series?

But then I come to the story. (-_-) Just about everyone knows the story behind Nana (two girls, two lives intertwined both starting off with broken relationships) so I'm not going to bother elaborating. So far I've only seen one character I respect, and that's Yasu and I think that's probably because he doesn't speak much. Hachi needs a spine. Nana needs a clue, but at least she's working towards something. Junko isn't much of a friend if she blames Hachi for Shoji's cheating and Shoji is an ass. Ren I don't know yet, but I already find him smug. Of course, now that I've started the series I have to finish it but it's definitely not a series that I'll ever be able to read volume by volume, I'll get too frustrated. I'll wait till volume 8 comes out, then I'll get 5-8 and sigh over the pretty art while wanting to strike 90% of the cast with a clue-by-four.

Amazon.com: JUNJO ROMANTICA Volume 1: (Yaoi) (Junjo Romantica): Books: Shungiku Nakamura ISBN: 1598167197 ISBN-13: 9781598167191

Amazon.com: JUNJO ROMANTICA Volume 2: (Yaoi) (Junjo Romantica): Books: Shungiku Nakamura ISBN: 1598167200 ISBN-13: 9781598167207

This is getting posted a little late because I had to watch the season finale of "America's Got Talent." (The right person won, yay!)

Day three of my Manga-a-day project and I've decided to do two volumes at once, the first two volumes of the yaoi series Junjo Romantica by Shungiku Nakamura. My yaoi manga collection has steadily been growing over the past year or so. For people who don't see the attraction to the genre (boys love) it's hard to explain.Most yaoi titles are solidly in the realm reserved for Romance novels, not at all realistic or high art but a good, smutty and escapist way to spend an afternoon.

Junjo Romantica is a very standard, if explicit, example of the genre. There are actually two separate stories within this title. Junjo Romantica, about a relationship between Misaki, high school senior and award-winning novelist Usami Akihiko and Junjo Egotist, the story of college student Hiroki and the four year younger Nowaki. In the first book the storylines share about equal space. In the second it's weighted slightly towards Junjo Egoist, and since I liked that storyline better that was fine by me.

The first volume had a lot of "surprise sex." There is no rape in yaoi, just surprise! Sex! Because when a man says no-no, really, he means "yes, please." The story starts off with Misaki trying to get into M university and going to his brother's best friend Akihiko for tutoring. It doesn't start off well when he discovers among Akihiko's newly published books a yaoi novel starring Akihiko and Misaki's older brother! In a rage, Misaki confronts Akihiko. Akihiko treats Misaki to some surprise sex. For some reason, Misaki, while claiming to be straight, not gay and not interested in Akihiko, comes back for more surprise sex... er I mean tutoring. And even after he gets into school agrees to live with him while he goes to school. It's not until the second volume that he even starts to suspect that he might like Akihiko that way.

The story in Junjo Egoist is loosely related to Junjo Romantica. Junjo Egoist seems to take place about 10 years before. Hiroki had a crush on Akihiko while they were both in school and Akihiko was still crushing on Misaki's older brother. After a disastrous sexual encounter with his crush Hiroki is wallowing in self-pity when he's discovered by Nowaki. Nowaki follows him home like a stray cat and forces his way into Hiroki's life and apartment. Hiroki agrees to tutor Nowaki to get into college since Nowaki only has a middle school degree (he is an orphan and started working early.)The main conflict in this story is Hiroki battling with his ego. Nowaki is four years younger, but he's taller, seems much more emotionally mature and is even the aggressor in their relationship. It's am much more realistic (as realistic as yaoi gets anyway) storyline and I like it better then title story. I find it more romantic.

I honestly can't decide if I like the artwork in this book. The author goes for comedy a lot so the expressions are often deformed and expressive instead of realistic. She has some extreme problems with proportion. Akihiko's hands are like dinner plates. They're huge! But the weirdest thing is they grow and shrink. He'll have perfectly normal hands while smoking a cigarette but once he starts going after Misaki they swell up until they look like they could completely engulf Misaki's head. However, despite the flaws, the artwork has a really good flow and energy and expresses the characters emotions well. I think her sex scenes look awkward but the more romantic scenes often give a very sweet feel. The nicest thing about these books is that each one has an end of finality. You can read just one and not be left on a cliffhanger waiting for the next. (I'm not sure how many volumes there are, but I know there is at least one more.) They're good self-contained stories to spend an afternoon with.

Yay! Manga!

Just a quick additional post. So a week or so ago I made a purchase on Amazon.com using my manga budget and the additional funds I had from turning in my quarters and other change I got at Tekkoshocon, Anime Central, Anime Next and Anime Expo. It was a rather annoying experience.

First, I discovered that Amazon's shopping cart can't handle over a purchase of over a 100 books in it's cart (I had about 250 in there), so I had to trim down my order. Second, they split the shipments... which usually isn't a problem. Except the first shipment was a singl book, Kare Kano 21...while 17-20 are still waiting to ship. I bought a couple of ranges of books and I've been getting notices all week that various books have been shipped out.  So far none of the ranges have been shipped together. Some I've getting book 2 and books 1 and 3 are in a separate shipment, some its volume 4,6,10 in a shipment and 3 and 9 is in another, 5, 7, in another. Argh!

However I just checked my order status, and found one shipment was delivered today! I didn't see it earlier when I got my mail so of course I went up to double-check. And there it was a big box of manga! Now I just have to figure out if I got any that I can read. I got about 30 volumes in this shipment, there should be something that I'm not waiting for an earlier volume on.

Manga A Day : Honey and Clover chapters 1 & 2

Amazon.com: Honey and Clover, Vol. 1: Books: Chica Umino ISBN: 1421515040 ISBN-13: 9781421515045

Day two of my Manga a Day blog post challenge (to myself.) I feel like I should make up some sort of Momiji styled name for it but I haven't come up with anything yet. Any suggestions?

Day 1 was Fruits Basket volume 17 and I wrote a lot. Day two instead of doing a full volume I'm going to put in my reaction to the first two chapters of Honey and Clover in  the September 07 issue of Viz's ShojoBeat.

When this first came out in Japan in 2000, I immediately started to hear a buzz and started getting hearing people say it's a manga I should read. At the time it came out I didn't have time to track down translations of anything besides Fruits Basket so I pretty much missed it's first wave. So I was pretty excited to hear that it had been licensed.

I have to say, from the first two chapters at least I'm not seeing where all the excitement is. The first chapter introduces us to a pretty wide array of cast members, all art students and living in a run down dorm near campus. The three main characters seem to Yuta Takemoto, a second year student, Shinobu Morita a 6th year senior, and Hagu Hanamoto a baby-faced 18 year old girl. (Seriously, she looks about 12.)

There are things I liked, like the very realistic swarming of the art students at the thought of free food. I also like the "art angst" when Takemoto sees Hagu at work on her sculpture. I still get uncomfortable when I see someone doing some great piece of art, I feel like I haven't done enough myself or that I've wasted time. When you're in art school you can often get the feeling that everyone else is clued in and you're left behind. Thats one thing the creator of this manga managed to capture very well in a very short scene.

I also liked Morita's crazy antics, like creating the fairie website with photos of Hagu and his bizarre sculptures. He's not terribly believable yet, but it did make me laugh. It bothers me that Hagu doesn't seem to talk. I checked, she only speaks once and that's in a flashback where she's trying to get away from Morita.

It's hard to judge on just two chapters, and I did enjoy what I read. I just haven't seen a reason to care about any of the characters yet. And the interest in Hagu is faintly disturbing to my western sensibilities, it skeeves me that two guys who look like they're college age showing interest in someone who looks like an elementary student. Perhaps I've watched too many episodes of "To Catch a Predator."

Manga a Day: Fruits Basket

Amazon.com: Fruits Basket, Vol. 17: Books: Natsuki Takaya ISBN: 1598167995 ISBN-13: 9781598167993

Volume 17 includes chapters 96 through 101, and the big big spoiler is finally out in English. This is my first post in my Manga-a-day, where I'm going to try to write about a manga each day. Usually these kinds of blogs have a time limit of some sort, like a movie a day for 30 days or 100 days of paintings. I'm going to see if I can't at least do 30.

Many of the mysteries of Fruits Basket are revealed in this volume. In so many ways it's just one big block of exposition, especially chapter 96-98 which just has a ton of information packed tightly into it. Here's what we learn:

1. Kureno's curse is broken
2. Akito is a woman
3. Who the mysterious figure that was talking to Hatori was when Tooru snuck into the compound (Ren Sohma)
4. Hana-chan really can read minds
5. Shigure slept with Ren, and was kicked out of the compound because of it
6. Kyou has a fan-following in school too.

The thing I love about Fruits Basket is that minor things from previous chapters that seem so carelessly placed become such a big deal later on. Momiji's fliming of the school play is what set off the whole exposition bomb in the first three chapters. However sometimes she can just be confusing. They start off with talking about graduation practice which I think places this volume sometime in late February. Graduation happens in the spring in Japan, so practicing in February for an April or May graduation makes sense. I was confused at first with all the discussion of Graduation, until I realized they were talking about the third years graduating instead of Tohru's class.

Kureno really does feel like a male version of Tohru, a comparison that was used way back in his first appearance. It really strikes home here where we see him pretty much warping his life to make other people happy. He completely sublimates his own wants and needs to the family and especially Akito. He doesn't even seem to angst about it too much until he realizes (when he watched Momiji's dvd) that Arisa is hurting because of him. I really wonder about his need to confess all to Tohru, he could have just said he had other obligations and left it at that.

I think that like the other Junninshi who crowd around Tohru partially because of the novelty of an outsider who knows the secret that she's the first one he can really tell everything to. It must have been very lonely for him, not being able to tell anyone that he was free or really even why he was staying with Akito. Like the others, I think that Kureno has been waiting for someone to tell him it was okay to be happy. At first he's very blase about how he'd only met Uo-chan twice and that it wasn't very important. But once Tohru shows a bit of sympathy he admits that he really does want to see Arisa.

But before Tohru can even react to that he goes into a huge explanation on why he can't leave Akito, including explaining about Akito's secret and about her Mother. I really found the scene where Shigure, Ayame, Hatori and Kureno dreamed about the birth of the god creepy. I think it's one of the few places that you really get the idea that the curse isn't just that they turn into animals but that they are really inhabited by spirits. Those spirits were happy to see the god again, not Kureno, not Shigure. No wonder Akito spent her life wondering if the feelings they expressed were true and needed constant reassurance.

Ren really is a sick and awful person, so it's sad that so much of what she says is true.

Tohru is uncharacteristically rocked by all the secrets revealed, normally this is where she'd think of something to say, but all the words are trapped. She can't say anything, or even move she's so shocked. I think it's interesting that Kyou flashes up in her mind as she's thinking of the hopeless love between Kureno, Arisa and Akito. I also remember the first time I read this chapter in the japanese with a translation being confused if Rin who seems to see the tail end of this conversation was actually there or just another memory fragment. I don't understand why she doesn't go to Tooru right at that moment. It seems like she's such a direct person that she'd want to know what they just talked about, but I think she's also so weak against tears that maybe she couldn't.

My love for Hana-chan is renewed in this volume, as she hears Tooru's distress and kidnaps her for a nightwear soriee. I love how Uo-chan and Hana-chan just lay it out so simply for Tohru that their happiness is not her responsibility. Hana-chan tells her that she worries about how Tohru carries everyone's feelings until it may get to heavy to bear and Uo-chan bursts in saying that'll never happen. I love Tohru's friends and even with Kureno's storyline we just don't see enough of them.

The second to last chapter centers around flowers. I admit to being completely distracted in this chapter by the actual mechanics of making the flowers that way. I've never seen paper flowers made that way turn out the way Takaya has drawn them. To make paper carnations turn out that way you usually use circular pieces of paper and pierced through the middle. If they made flowers the way they've shown them there they wouldn't look as circular (they'd mostly look like the one Machi made.) This is an extremely nitpicky thing that really has no bearing on the story.

Poor Tohru starts to keep secrets in this chapter. And I want to kick Shigure for not making it easier to open up to him. She tries to bring it up in the beginning of the chapter and he pretends he doesn't know what she's trying to ask. I wonder why he doesn't want to discuss it with her.

Poor Prince Yuki is feeling left out because no one wants him to help with the graduation preparations and he can't seem to join in any of the camaraderie. Then, of course, Machi pops up to say hello just to him. She's made a big effort out of it, showing that she really cares about him. It's just so CONVIENIENT. I like Machi, and I think I'm one of the few people who really enjoyed the student council chapters and seeing Yuki grow as a person. But Machi is just too perfectly matched to show off all his growth. She only pops up just when he needs her. I think Yuki's whole storyline was too rushed to feel natural. If Machi was a little less awkward, and a little less in need of saving I think I'd have been able sympathize with her better.

The last part of the chapter with Kyou and Tohru is very cute, but it really bothers me that Kyou doesn't press her to know what's making her cry. Does he just think it's the thought of the curse that's starting to wear on her? The gift of the flower is just too sweet though.

The last chapter is all about Shigure, which is great because I love him. Shigure is so jealous,and he's been jealous for so long. I think  when Akito asks if he likes her it's really telling that he asks if she's asking all the Junninshi that. It implies that really, he wants her to just ask HIM that kind of question. I am very, very fond of pure romantic love, and I think Shigure's feelings started out as that.

We get to see his parents, but like Mitchan says, it's just not enough. You only get a quick glimpse. No fair! No fair at all! (I love seeing Shigure tease Mithan about Ritsu. Her reaction is so telling.) Of course it quickly goes dark from there and we find out what the relationship between Akito, Kureno, Ren and Shigure is. I wonder how much Shigure really planned and how much was really done in just a fit of jealous rage? When he tells Akito that he slept with Ren because she slept with Kureno and Akito flips out that that's fine if she does it, it makes it seem like he was trying to wake her up to reality. It's like he wants to break her into a million tiny pieces just so he can put her back together again.

The last bit of the chapter shows Tohru trying to find Rin so she can discuss the curse with her. I want to kick Rin's classmates in the head, but really Rin probably hasn't made it easy to be friends I suppose.

Overall I love Fruits Basket, but it's really with this volume that I think the pacing really starts to fall to pieces. We've got 17 volumes that make up the first two years of the story. Now everything starts zooming along towards the conclusion. So much was covered in this volume that it feels really rushed. I feel like Shigure's storyline, being squeezed into the last chapter, just doesn't flow well. Yuki's chapters in previous volumes also feel awkwardly placed and too convenient, but it's in this volume where overall things start to feel a little too pat and orchestrated. However, I do love how so many things from earlier volumes have been tied up. It's hard to explain exactly, at the same time things feel rushed you see a bunch of little threads that were first established in the early volumes come to fruition. You see both extremely masterful plotting and planning and bad pacing all wrapped up in the same volume. Taken over the whole series, Takaya manages to tell an amazing story. It just feels strange that she used this volume to tell so much of it at once.