One-Punch Man Ch. 017
Well then, if One-Punch Man is anything, it’s most certainly experimental. This was basically thirty two page spreads, thirty pages of a magazine, devoted to the most pure representation of what a fight in shounen manga should be like. No talking, just pure action, punching, kicking, laser…ing… It’s a cinematic approach that most creators don’t take because their page count is limited. But being a monthly series One-Punch Man manages to pull this off. Were I still writing my Combat Commentary column this would be a definite candidate for analysis. Still, it does run the risk of readers just skimming over it, which I recommend against, because you can’t get the full impact unless you take the time to examine each page. Protip: Don’t read it on an iphone, or any phone. Read it on a tablet or a computer. You’ll get the full effect that way.

One Piece Ch. 709
I think most everyone was at least suspecting that B block would come out the way it did. I know I for one didn’t definitively call it, but it it was one of the possibilities I thought would happen. Though, I was impressed by Elizabello’s punch. I know we were told it was powerful, but somehow just having a really big punch that could only be used once an hour didn’t seem that impressive. And yet, here we are, with him taking out all the heavy hitters of the round except one. Though it did prove the main flaw of his attack—that if someone was prepared for it and knew what was coming, or could otherwise block it, the attack loses some of its effectiveness. Now it remains to see if we get a backstory for the island, or if we move on to the next set of fights next chapter.

Naruto Ch. 630
Will someone please shut Obito up? He’s been saying the same thing for the past three months. It’s like Kishimoto doesn’t think we have the mental faculty to understand what Obito is saying unless it’s constantly repeated over and over. Then again, and I can’t speak for the rest of you, but I’m still reading this series, so I dunno if Kishimoto would be that far off in his estimation of my intelligence.

Though, it was good to finally get a response to the repetitive rhetoric Obito has been sprouting. Especially after he went completely coo-coo bananas with these past few chapters.

The rest of the chapter was inoffensive. And I’ll even go so far as to say that I quite enjoyed Minato’s appearance at the end. Even though I knew he was coming. Though why is Naruto not surprised that his dead father suddenly appeared? Is this series going to treat death the way Dragon Ball Z did?

It was also nice to see Sakura actually contribute. Remember her? She was the female lead at one point, before she was abandoned way at the beginning of this interminably long arc. I know more chapters means more money and all that. But there’s something to be said for quitting while being ahead. Instead Naruto is going to be remembered as a good series that went quite bad for a while, became tolerable, and then became absolutely awful at the end.

World Trigger Ch. 014
Seeing as how my time has become a lot more precious to me, I can’t say I have much to say about this week’s chapter. If nothing else the fight was interesting enough. But I can’t help but wonder why we’re supposed to believe a government agency would give sniper rifles to two kids not even eighteen yet. I know it’s a trope to have kids fighting the monsters in manga and anime. But in series like Evangelion we’re given a reason why it has to be kids. It’s not exactly a good reason, but it’s a reason. World Trigger expects us to just accept that a government agency is having teenagers fight with deadly weaponry for no other reason than that’s how it’s done in manga. I’m sorry, but I refuse to accept that. Give me a good reason. Are adults incapable of producing Trion? Can they not use the triggers? I need a reason. Any reason. Even a stupid reason would be marginally better than expecting me to just sit back and accept that a bunch of kids are the most effective fighting force around.

Bleach Ch. 537
While this chapter did retcon Masaki’s death, it at least makes sense in the context of what the flashback has established. We needed to understand how she could die against an easy opponent like Grand Fisher, considering she had her own powers that could take on hollow hybrids. And if we consider that she was sensitive enough to know the kid Ichigo was going to save was a hollow, then we could perhaps assume she had some kind of power. Still, it’s clear that the purpose of it all was to make Ywatch the ultimate bad guy. And yes, in that case it’s rather clumsy. But at least in the context of the flashback it holds together. Motivations of the author aside.

Cross Manage Ch. 033
This week’s chapter was a bit weaker than the last two, but mostly just because there was a lot less focus on the action. The character interactions, and general character moments, were really strong. Ryu also just happened to give me my favorite moment of the entire issue. I have high hopes that Cross Manage will continue to do well, and increase in the rankings so we can continue to see what Kaito can do.

Nisekoi Ch. 074
I’ve found that the biggest problem I have with Nisekoi is that after Chitoge fell in love with Rakku she lost what made her unique from the other girls. She’s no longer the one that doesn’t like him, she’s just like the rest of them. And as strong as the rest are, Chitoge doesn’t have much else to back up her personality. In the long run she’s just less interesting than the other girls. I think it would have served the overall manga much better to put the inevitable moment where she falls for Rakku for much later, because the overall dynamics just don’t work as they are. She’s still enjoyable enough, and this chapter was a lot of fun, but I’ve found that I tend to enjoy her moments less. Which goes to show when I compare this chapter to recent ones. And that’s a big shame considering she’s the main romantic interest. If we don’t like her over the other girls, as well handled as the romance is, it just won’t be that satisfying when she and Rakku get together. And since that’s the whole point of the story it’s a big weakness that needs addressing.

Toriko Ch. 233
This wasn’t the best Toriko chapter ever. The biggest weakness is of course how much time was spent on flashbacks, and the fact that the big reveal last chapter, that Toriko was beaten, is irrelevant. It was just meant to be a shocking moment, and now we move on to the real fight. It’s weak, transparent writing, and as much as I love this series I have to call it on this one. Emotional moments don’t work if they’re obviously being written to be emotional. Still, we can’t expect every chapter to be a winner, so I’ll give it a few more before I start really laying into it. I think Toriko deserves the benefit of the doubt.

Dragon Ball Z Ch. 015
Chi Chi may be one of the least liked characters of this series, but I really can’t help but feel sorry for her. Not only is her child kidnapped, but her husband has been murdered by the monster that almost murdered him before she and Goku got married. I’m amazed she isn’t traumatized by the events of the series. And of course, we get the beginning of Goku actually being a pretty terrible husband and father. Never mind that he’s leaving his wife and child behind to train, I know, I know, it’s to save the earth and all, but later on he does this exact same thing for no good reason. Still, this chapter focuses more on just blanket exposition and reminding us that Goku still has made any progression yet. But, it’s a good chapter, enough variety to make it more entertaining than some of the past few chapters have been.

If you want to hear more, check out the Manga^3 Podcast Archives. Or go directly to last week’s episode, Episode 047 – May 13, 2013 – Gender Roles in Manga | Wandering Son. PS: We had Ed Sizemore on as a guest last week, he’s a lot smarter than us so last week’s episode is actually really good.

Ever since I started this column, I’ve hoped to eventually feature a Taiwanese puppet show. Well, the time has come.

The Story

This series is a spinoff of a Taiwanese puppet saga known in English as The Scholar Swordsman. It stars one of the main characters of “The Scholar Swordsman,” called Khóohái Lúsînliông.

Khóohái Lúsînliông is being punished.

Khóohái Lúsînliông is a Tartar princess who has become a travelling sword fighter. She prefers drinking alcohol and kicking butt to acting like a princess. Various characters have trouble whether to treat Khóohái Lúsînliông as a friend or enemy.

She is in love with a poet called Sú Gânbûn. However, there’s a fake Sú Gânbûn running around! Where’s the real Sú Gânbûn? At one point, a ‘Sú Gânbûn’ gets rescued by a mysterious horse-rider called Tiònghuakióng. Is Tiònghuakióng the real Sú Gânbûn? Is Tiònghuakióng actually

Tiònghuakióng is caught in a spider web!

Anyway, the plot keeps going on an on like this. Every episode ends with a cliffhanger, usually either along the lines of “character X and Y are about to fight, who will win?” or “What is the true identity and motive of Character Z?”

I’ll be honest, and admit that I had trouble following the plot. This is not necessarily the drama’s fault. I must point out that

1) This is in Taiwanese, and my Taiwanese comprehension skills suck.
2) I am not terribly familiar with The Scholar Swordsman, so I seem to be missing out on some background.

About Taiwanese Puppets

Glove puppetry has been extremely popular for as long as Chinese speakers have lived in Taiwan. Live puppetry used to be the most popular way to entertain masses of people.

There are actually many kinds of traditional puppetry in Taiwan, and I’m not qualified to describe them, but they can be broadly divided into the “northern school” and the “southern school.” The “northern school” tended to focus on tales of magic, adventure, good vs. evil, and heroism, whereas the “southern school” focused on tales about family, love, and ordinary people. Guess which school Khóohái Lúsînliông is descended from.

Back in 19th century Taiwan, the “southern school” was considered higher-brow than the “northern school” – scholars could admit to enjoying the southern school, not so much the northern school.

Then something called “television” appeared in Taiwan.

Is that television coming to Taiwan? No, it’s just Khóohái Lúsînliông going somewhere.

Did the puppeteers say “Oh no, television is going to take away all of our audience, we must stop it!!!!”?

Nope. They said “What a great way to reach more people.”

And that’s how the “Golden Light” puppetry style was born.

“Golden Light” first appeared around the 1950s, and is a style which has been adapted to work well both live and on the small screen, with a heavy focus on exciting special effects to dazzle viewers.

And it worked.

Throughout the 1960s, not only were many of the most popular Taiwanese TV shows puppet dramas, many of the top selling music albums were soundtracks from puppet dramas. Live puppet shows also did well.

When I talk to middle-aged Taiwanese people, if I mention puppet shows, their eyes will light up with nostalgia. 40-year-old men will become 10-year-old boys. It’s like talking about popular old Saturday-morning cartoons with Americans.

However, puppet dramas have gradually fallen out of the mainstream, and are now considered something primarily for fans. While puppet dramas used to be broadcast over the air, now they are almost only present on cable (that said, there is an ENTIRE CABLE CHANNEL dedicated just to puppet dramas). When I ask people why puppet dramas aren’t as popular as they used to be, I am told that there is too much media from Hollywood, Japan, Hong Kong, etc., crowding out the puppet dramas.

The sand represents Hollywood/Anime/Hong Kong Cinema/K-Dramas, and the puppet represents, well, Taiwanese puppetry.

Even so, there is a very active puppet fandom in Taiwan. They have conventions. The puppets themselves can become collectors’ items which demand high prices. It is not unusual to see a 7-11 advertisement featuring puppets.

Many traditional events, such as temple festivals, often feature live puppet performances. I remembering seeing one just two blocks away from my apartment. However, while some people look on curiously for a minute or two, I have never seen anybody enraptured by a live puppet performance. It seems to be there as a ritual, not as a form of entertainment.

About this Drama

The Scholar Swordsman is the magnum opus of one of Taiwan’s most celebrated “Golden Light” puppeteers, Toshio Huang, who belongs to the third generation of a noted puppeteering family. The saga has been produced multiple times for TV, and has also been performed many times live. This specific spinoff seems to be a collaboration between Toshio Huang and his son, Huang Liwang.

The themesong, of course is “Khóohái Lúsînliông.” The song had originally been popularized by The Scholar Swordsman, and become a standard of Taiwanese music. I had actually been familiar with the song before I found out that it came from a puppet drama. The Youtube video above features the song.

The Puppetry

One of the things that’s frustrating about writing this post is that stills taken from the show *completely miss the point*.

Though the puppets can move their eyes and mouths, the expressions on their face generally don’t change very much. Therefore, much of the expressive power of the puppets come from how they move. You really do have to see them in action to see just how skilled the puppeteers are in conveying personality, mood, feeling, etc., just by how the puppets move. Still images of the puppets look almost lifeless, whereas the puppets in motion feel like living people.

The show integrates both “real footage” and “puppet footage.” For example, sometimes they use shots of real deserts, forests, etc … and sometimes they have miniature puppet forests, deserts, etc.

It’s a puppet waterfall.

And I never imagined that puppet fighting could be so exciting to watch. The fights are really well done – detailed, easy to follow the flow of the action, variety, etc. And there are a lot of things you can do with puppets which cannot be done (ethically) with live performers. Cutting off their heads, for example. Also setting them on fire.

The fact that they are puppets, in a way, makes it all more magical. It’s very hard to explain. However, I also feel that special effects in live performances feel more special than special effects in Hollywood blockbusters, for that matter, I think special effects in silent cinema feel more special than special effects in Hollywood blockbusters. The fact that the technology is cruder ironically seems to make it more wonderful. The same effect it at work in this puppet drama, at least for me.

Influences

Obviously, this show is heavily influenced by wuxia, in fact, it *is* wuxia. But it’s not just based on wuxia.

Puppets. Seriously.

American culture does not take puppets seriously. Anything involving puppets is assumed to be cute and/or funny. I bet you can count on one hand every work of American puppetry which is neither a comedy nor for kids.

I’m an American too, and so it’s also my reflex not to take puppets seriously, even though I have been an (amateur) puppeteer myself. So while watching this show, there were time when I thought, “Oh, the puppets are travelling through the desert, how cute” or “Prostitute puppets, ha ha ha” (yes, some of the characters in this story are prostitutes).

However, I know that Taiwanese culture does not have this reflex. They take puppets as seriously as they take popular cinema, particularly the older generations. Puppet dramas can be for kids and/or comedic, but they aren’t necessarily so.

Puppetry is considered “masculine,” so much so that a Taiwanese girl/woman who took great interest in puppetry might be considered a tomboy. In the United States, a boy/man who took great interest in puppetry might be considered a sissy. (Sadly, in both Taiwanese and American culture, “masculine” things are taken more seriously than “feminine” things).

Encountering things like Taiwanese puppetry drive home the point that, yes, I am culturally American.

Availability in English

Well, Khóohái Lúsînliông is not available in English.

There is a movie, Legend of the Sacred Stone, which is available on DVD with English subtitles. Weirdly, the movie is in Mandarin – most puppet dramas are in Taiwanese (they also sometimes are performed in Cantonese).

Taiwanese puppetry has also been adapted into the Cartoon Network show Wulin Warriors, which of course is available in English, but I’ve read that the Cartoon Network version is inferior to the original.

She works in a brothel.

Conclusion

Many Taiwanese people take a “the glass is half empty” view of puppetry because they know it’s not as wildly popular as it was a few decades ago.

I take a “the glass is half full” view because, even today, puppetry is way more popular in Taiwan than it ever has been in the United States.

What I take away from this drama is not the story, which, while somewhat entertaining, did not make much an impression on me. What I take away from it is the sheer creativity which goes into golden light glove puppetry as a medium. It feels new and fresh to me, and the special effects probably inspired a greater sense of wonder in me than the special effects of all the Hollywood movies I’ve seen in the last seven years combined.

Next Time: What the **** Are You Doing, Wei Xiaobao? The Duke of Mount Deer (novel).

One time, Sara K. was assigned the task of making bird puppets. She thought it would be really boring if they were perched, so she wanted to make it look like they were flying. It wasn’t enough for the wings to be outstretched – she wanted the wings to move as if they were flying. She found it was amazingly difficult to get information about how birds move in flight, and ended up reading a book Bird Flight about the science of how birds fly because she couldn’t find any other source. Who would have thought that taking a theatre class would lead to doing detailed research in physics and ornithology?

Lissa Pattillo files her con report on TCAF:

The event had two manga guests – Taiyo Matsumoto and Gengoroh Tagame. I didn’t have much personal interest in Taiyo Matsumoto’s work, but I was thrilled that Tagame Gengoroh – a pioneer in the bara genre – was being flown in to help promote his new book, The Passion of Gengoroh Tagame. I attended his panel and signings and enjoyed what a friendly and out-going individual he was, and how much fun he seemed to have talking about his work.

On the floor, it was exciting to see Chromatic Press‘s booth set-up with lots of goodies promoting their current and upcoming projects. Plus the staff are all completely charming and hard-working individuals who I have nothing less than well wishes for! I was sad that both rem and Jen Lee Quick – who work with the new publisher, and happen to be two artists whose work I adore – were unable to attend the event despite initial plans. Maybe next year?

And Scott Green takes a look at a new book I first saw in the wild at TCAF: Suehiro Maruo’s The Strange Tale of Panorama Island, which was announced four years ago and is finally being published by Last Gasp.

With the Yumi Tamura Manga Moveable Feast in the offing, Anna N. rounds up her reviews of Tamura’s work, Chicago and Basara.

Reviews: Ash Brown looks back on a week in manga at Experiments in Manga.

Sakura Eries on vol. 12 of Dengeki Daisy (The Fandom Post)
Lori Henderson on King’s Moon: The Life of Akechi Mitsuhide (Manga Xanadu)
Erin on vols. 4-6 of Otomen (Gagging on Sexism)
Erica Friedman on vol. 10 of Pure Yuri Anthology Hirari (Okazu)

Note: this is only available digitally right now.

As I have mentioned before, sports manga and North American have a very iffy relationship, with none of the contenders really hitting the heights of Naruto or One Piece sales. That said, there’s a lot of sports manga out there, and I’ll give credit to Viz (and let’s be honest, it’s pretty much just Viz, unless I count Sasameke, WHICH I DON’T) for continuing to experiment with them. Especially as such series are HUGE in Japan, and tend to run and run. Slam Dunk was 31 volumes, Eyeshield 21 was 37. Kuroko’s Basketball is 20+, and continues to succeed despite terrorist threats (though it’s sadly not licensed here, possibly as Slam Dunk is still ongoing.) And of course we’ve had Cross Game on the Sunday side of the fence.

And now we have Cross Manage, one of Viz’s ‘we’ll try a new weekly series and see if it dies in 2 volumes’ attempts they’ve had recently, and easily the most successful, given it actually seems to have survived the most recent round of cancellations in Japan. I particularly like the cover, which has Toyoguchi’s beaming face (and oh boy, does it beam – sometimes her face gets so happy it’s almost surreal) right in the foreground and Sakurai’s passive gaze in the background. Because this is about a female lacrosse team, and Sakurai is signed up/blackmailed into being their manager.

There’s a lot to love here. Toyoguchi is just great, being a perky, naive girl who looks like she could burst into a Disney song at any moment, but is also fueled by pure determination and smiles just as widely when threatening to tell everyone our hero accidentally groped her. She’s so relentlessly upbeat and caring that when Hayami shows up and attempts to guilt-trip Toyoguchi into letting Sakurai return to the soccer team (and her arms), not only does Toyoguchi not get it, but the other girl finds herself automatically trying to comfort and reassure her. That needs to be weaponized somehow.

Then there’s the team itself, which is made up of…. drum roll please… girls with all sorts of body types! Yes, the other main girl we get to know is the tall butch tomboy, but we also see pudgy girls, and tiny girls, and girls that sort of look like Sumiyoshi in Excel Saga. And they’re some of the best players. I like the fact that the team is not going to be used simply as an excuse to see a lot of hot girls changing constantly (imagine if the Cage of Eden artist drew this manga… *shudder*) and hope we get to know everyone better. And, of course, we have a classic Bad News Bears team – they’re newbies, with some ra2w skills, but mostly horrible, and they get curbstomped in their first match.

As for Sakurai, our hero, the goal of the first volume is to get him to rediscover the passion he lost to a knee injury, and mission accomplished. He’s a fairly subdued and diligent young man, which contrasts nicely with Toyoguchi’s perkiness and the hotheads and airheads that are also on the team. I think he’ll be an excellent manager, provided the soccer girl doesn’t pry him away. Not that she has any chance… she has ‘unsuccessful rival girl’ written all over her.

I’m pumped to see more of this series – its mood is pretty infectious, and it makes me want to learn more about lacrosse. Roll on Vol. 2!

Chicago – complete with cello technique critique!
Basara 1 and 2
Basara 3 and 4
Basara 5 and 6
Basara 7 and 8
Basara 9 and 10
Basara 11 and 12

I feel like I’m going to spend a portion of this week vainly wishing that someone would license Tamura’s 7 Seeds for English publication, but I will also put my slightly mournful feelings aside and dive back into Basara, which is always a rewarding reading experience.

The Manga Bookshelf team takes an advance look at this week’s new manga.

Guest blogger Shaenon Garrity writes about Moto Hagio’s A,A’ for this week’s House of 1000 Manga column at ANN.

Erica Friedman has the latest yuri update in this week’s edition of Yuri Network News at Okazu.

At Manga Therapy, Tony Yao explains why he is thankful for fujoshi.

Lori Henderson discusses the digital-only title Japan Sinks in her latest Manga Dome podcast at Manga Xanadu, and she brings in some related books as well.

Lissa Pattillo catches up with last month’s announcement from PictureBox of two new manga: Seiichi Hayashi’s Gold Pollen and Other Stories and Yuichi Yokoyama’s World Map Room.

Melinda Beasi is thrilled at the news that manga-ka Kayuza Minekura is back at work on Wild Adapter after a three-year hiatus due to health reasond.

After many delays, the English edition of Suehiro Maru’s The Strange Tale of Panorama Island is now available from Last Gasp. It’s true—I saw a copy on Ryan Sands’ table at TCAF. And so did Deb Aoki, who had the presence of mind to take pictures.

Viz’s yaoi imprint SuBLime has launched a new series, Blue Morning, “an intriguing new series about aristocratic drama and the intricate relationship between the loyal butler of a noble family and a young heir he is duty-bound to look after.”

News from Japan: Galaxy Express 999 manga-ka Leiji Matsumoto has revealed nine pages of Osamu Tezuka’s unpublished work, drafts for Metropolis and other manga. The pages will go on display at Tokyo’s Museum of Contemporary Art this summer. Kami Minai’s “bishojo x violence” manga Needless is coming to an end. Black Bird creator Kanoko Sakurakoji has a new series in the works.

Reviews

Mark Thomas on vols. 13 and 14 of Arata: The Legend (The Fandom Post)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 19 of Bakuman (Comics Worth Reading)
Mark Thomas on vol. 17 of Battle Angel Alita: The Last Order (The Fandom Post)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 4 of Bond of Dreams, Bond of Love (I Reads You)
AstroNerdBoy on vol. 7 of A Certain Scientific Railgun (AstroNerdBoy’s Anime and Manga Blog)
Erica Friedman on Cirque Arachne (Okazu)
Lesley Aeschliman on vol. 6 of Fullmetal Alchemist (Blogcritics)
Jocelyne Allen on Kami no Kodomo (Brain Vs. Book)
Anna N. on vols. 1-6 of Kare First Love (Manga Report)
Sakura Eries on vol. 17 of La Corda d’Oro (The Fandom Post)
Connie C. on Lone Wolf and Cub, Gunslinger Girl, and Golgo 13 (Comics Should Be Good)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 3 of Missions of Love (Comics Worth Reading)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 61 of Naruto (The Comic Book Bin)
Sean Gaffney on vols. 7-9 of Neon Genesis Evangelion (A Case Suitable for Treatment)
Sweetpea on Nobody Can Hear Me But You (Organization Anti-Social Geniuses)
Helen on vol. 1 of Off*Beat (Narrative Investigations)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 15 of Otomen (The Comic Book Bin)
Leroy Douresseaux on vol. 10 of Psyren (The Comic Book Bin)
L.B. Bryant on vol. 1 of Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration (ICv2)
Johanna Draper Carlson on vol. 4 of Strobe Edge (Comics Worth Reading)

ANNA: I’ll have to go with Sunny as well. I’m most excited about reading that.

MICHELLE: I’m going to award my pick to the low-key sci-fi charmer, Saturn Apartments, which comes to a close this week in its seventh volume. I’m somewhat behind on this tale of future window-washers and how their occupation affords them glimpses of the different strata of society, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how it turns out in the end.

SEAN: I’ll go with Sailor Moon once again. Of all the manga, these last two volumes are the ones I’m least familiar and comfortable with, and I seem to recall liking them less than the rest last time around. I look forward to finding new things to love about them in this new edition, as well as another visit with my favorite Sailor Senshi—which is to say, all of them.

What looks good to you this week?

It’s no secret that we’re big fans here at Manga Bookshelf, and we’ve been following the news of this series’ possible resurrection since its move to Ichijisha in 2011. Back in August of last year, it was announced that new chapters would begin appearing sometime this spring, and ANN has now reported that the relaunch has begun!

Fans on Twitter have questioned whether the series still has a large enough fanbase to successfully continue, and all we can say here is… DAMN, we hope so.

For more on why we feel that way, check out our Wild Adapter MMF archive, and these posts in particular:

• Introduction to Wild Adapter
• BL Bookrack: Wild Adapter Roundtable (with special guest David Welsh)
• 3 Things Thursday: Wild Adapter
• Fanservice Friday: The Human Touch
• Let’s Get Visual: Wild Adapter

What say you, readers? Any Wild Adapter fans still out there? Stand up and be counted!

Well, the party’s over. As if it weren’t obvious from the events at the end of the previous omnibus, the light and fluffy ‘everyone is slightly more tolerable’ manga antics end here, as these three volumes are a brutal kick in the teeth reminding us over and over again that humanity is desperately fighting to survive… and that most of the people in charge actually have a different agenda OTHER than fighting to survive. And, just as we finally add our last major cast member, we also get the first of our major cast deaths. There will be more.

The Evangelion fandom doesn’t use “I mustn’t run away” as a meme for no good reason. This volume sees Shinji in a constant cycle of attempting to flee from his destiny and the responsibilities being thrown at him, and constantly being drawn back as he’s unable to just let everyone else get annihilated. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he gets to accomplish anything here – he returns, but is basically “sat in the corner” by his father, who punishes him by having him watch everyone get annihilated without his help ANYWAY. The manga is less emotive than the anime, with characters at times seeming to underreact to horrible crises, but that’s unsurprising – the pace of the manga is such that there is a state of constant danger, and I imagine after a while the senses just get numbed.

There’s a lot of backstory here. Kaji’s is designed to make him both more likeable and more vulnerable. For all that we like to pretend that we wouldn’t crack under the threat of death, the reality is that we probably would. And so much of Kaji’s life has revolved around finding out the real reason that things happened the way they did – an attempt to expose what led to his own actions. Shinji at one point notes that Misato still loves him, and indeed he’s clearly in love with her, but these are two people, like the rest of the cast, who are unable to grasp at the happiness that could be theirs. As for the other flashback, Fuyutsuki seems to be the perfect “follower”, and Gendo seems even worse than we’d originally suspected. As for Yui, I suspect that she’s being idolized in the memories of both Fuyutsuki and Shinji when we see her, but I agree that it’s easy to see Gendo could have genuinely loved her.

And then there’s Asuka and Rei. I’ve said before that I find manga Asuka far more likeable, and the counter argument to that is that she’s involved in the manga plotline so much less than in the anime, so doesn’t get the time to be irritating. Asuka’s backstory is also shown to us, which is bad news for her, as backstory in this manga is always followed by trauma. Asuka’s attempts to take out the Angel are interrupted by it raping her – yes, yes, mentally, but given that she screams “don’t come inside me” at one point, I think the distinction is fairly irrelevant here. It’s the most horrific we’ve ever seen the Angel attacks, and she comes away from it basically comatose. Rei, meanwhile, is struggling with a distance growing between her and Gendo as she and Shinji grow closer. Ritsuko seems to realize that Rei is growing more human and less doll-like, something that nearly drives her to murder. This, naturally, leads up to the cliffhanger for this omnibus, showing Rei’s “last stand”.

As for Kaworu, it’s interesting that he arrives right as Kaji departs, given his presence as “the mole”. He’s shipped with Shinji a bit harder than in the anime, with Shinji’s “have some sense of personal space” going unheeded. And the scene with the kitten shows a somewhat unbreakable wall between his own value system and that of the First Child. Nevertheless, you can even see Kaworu getting caught up in the struggle against the Angels, and wonder if he’s oing to be a double/triple/quadruple agent the way Kaji was.

The plot may be going places I don’t want it to go, but the writing is still top notch, with a complete inability to put the book down. The news that the manga will end with Chapter 95 in June means that this is likely to be 5 omnibuses (14 volumes) long, and thus this volume begins the second half of the story. It’ll be hard to make things even more tense after this, but I’m sure we’ll find a way.

I was excited to see the first volume of Kare First Love pop up on Viz Digital. I thought this would be a good excuse for me to reread the series. I checked out most of Kare First Love from a library a long time ago, and since then I’ve been slowly acquiring my own copies. Kare First Love was a shoujo manga released before the Shojo Beat imprint came into being. In terms of content, it would skew a bit older than some of the titles in the Shojo Beat line, although Miyasaka doesn’t straddle the josei/shoujo line the way I feel Ai Yazawa sometimes does.

Kare First Love sticks fairly close to standard shoujo plots, but it executes them in an engaging and sometimes slightly more realistic way. Kare First Love also piles on the drama. While there are humorous moments, there’s much more angst as the protagonists navigate their budding relationship. Karin Karino is a shy girl who hides behind her glasses and doesn’t stick up for herself at school. She’s thinking slightly snarky thoughts to herself as she endures her morning bus ride when she’s approached by Kiriya, a handsome student from a nearby boys’ school who is interested in the photography book that she’s reading. A mishap on the bus leaves Karin thinking Kiriya is a pervert, and she slaps him and leaves her book behind. Like many shoujo heroines Karin’s outward actions contract with her inner thoughts, as she meekly gives in when her frenemy Yuka demands her class notes while thinking of what she’d actually like to say in response. All the mean girl shenanigans are deflated a little bit by Nanri, a girl in Karin’s class with a worldly and cynical air about her. Nanri holds herself apart from the rest of the class, but she points out to Karin that she does have the ability to stop being taken advantage of if she would only speak up.

As much as Karin would like to go back to her simple anonymous life Kiriya will not go away. He shows up at her school to return her photography book, and they immediately start bickering. Yuko decides that she’s going to use Kiriya’s odd interest in Karin to pursue him and his group of hot friends. Karin finds herself maneuvered into a series of awkward group dates, and it becomes apparent that instead of being obnoxious, Kiriya is almost saintly for a 16-year-old boy. He goes out of his way to look after Karin, maneuvering her through awkward social situations. Karin can’t believe that Kiriya is actually interested in her, but around him she actually says what’s on her mind without her customary filter of shyness.

As Karin and Kiriya start to spend more time with each other, she learns that he’s estranged from his family and supports himself by working a series of part-time jobs. His main ambition is to be a photographer. There are plenty of misunderstandings and incidents where Karin is swept off her feet while Kiriya says things like “Let me take care of you…or I’ll do something horrible like kiss you again.” Kiriya encourages Karin to rediscover her love for music, which is something that she dropped due to the extreme pressure her parents placed on her studying for school.

One of the things that sets Kare First Love apart from other shoujo manga is the way Miyasaka details the trials and tribulations associated with Karin and Kirya developing the physical aspect of their relationship. The manga goes into more detail than is typical, with Nanri sometimes functioning as a peer counselor for the Japanese equivalent for Planned Parenthood because she keeps handing Karin condoms to ensure that when she does have sex, it will be safe sex. Karin is as scared and timid as you would expect a socially isolated girl to be, and Kiriya is about as patient as one would expect a 16 year old boy to be, which is not very patient. One difficult element of the characterization that Miyasaka manages to pull off is that for several volumes Kiriya is basically pressuring Karin to have sex, but he doesn’t seem like a jerk. He might attempt more physical intimacy in their relationship, but he always backs down when Karin appears uncomfortable.

Teenage romance is always both intense and complicated, and in short order the couple have to deal with Kiriya’s tragic past (the most important accessory of any shoujo hero), Karin’s overbearing parents, Yuka’s bullying, interfering photographers, and Kiriya’s attractive older sister-in-law. In addition to these outside complications, Kiriya and Karin’s relationship turns stormy due to their own lack of communication and misunderstandings with each other. The dynamic of the main relationship in Kare First Love reminded me a bit of Fuyumi Soryo’s Mars, but with much less psychological torture.

Miyasaka’s art is attractive, but most fluid and natural when she’s drawing teenagers. Karin’s father often looks a tad on the robotic side, but that could also be a function of his less than great personality. Karin is believable as a stunning shoujo heroine when she takes off her glasses, and Kiriya’s larger frame and shaggy blond hair contrasts with her more conservative look. Miyasaka does a good job alternating between the outward action and Karin’s thoughts, making all the scenes of breaking up and making up dramatic enough to satisfy any shoujo fan.

I’m very happy that Viz is making their backlist available on digital platforms, and I hope this series finds a new group of fans!