Why do I torture myself? Musashi #9's last volume

I recently received my copy of the last volume of Musashi #9 that CMX will be publishing. Like a big idiot, I even read the last chapter, knowing that this book would continue the tradition of starting a new story arc with the last chapter of the graphic novel.  And now, unless an extremely unlikely license rescue occurs, I will never get to find out what happens in this story, let alone the overarching story.  I doubt they live happily ever after, and maybe it all ends in serious tragedy.  Maybe it's better to leave things here, with action and intrigue and hilariously awkward and sweet moments stolen between saving the world.  Maybe it's better not to know, but I still find this situation to be a serious bummer.

Musashi #9 has always struck me as a rather unique serious published in the United States. I'm not really sure what publishing category or demographic it was aimed at.  (And no, I haven't looked that information up.)  It definitely didn't feel shojo me (younger teen girl) for all its sparse, occasionally slightly melodramatic bits of romance. It almost felt more older shonen (younger boys 7-15) with the action and plotting and tactics and the way the story arcs resolved. It was a bit too something for seinen, despite the main point-of-view character's young adult maleness, lots of danger and explosions, and conspiracy-theory awesomeness.  I wouldn't really say josei, either, for all it had a mature, tail-kicking female heroine. Whatever it was, I thought it was great, and I really look forward to each irregular volume.

I think partly because it didn't really fit anywhere, I never really heard much buzz about it.  I kind of feel like I'm one of the only people who liked this series, which may explain a lot, but then again, CMX did manage to squeeze out an extra volume of this series and not others that I thought were much more popular.

Excuse me while I get a little teary-eyed once again over the tragedy of the death of CMX.

Thank you, CMX staff for some very excellent series.

Also, the great manga migration is mostly over, so we should be returning to our regularly scheduled posting at least every Sunday and Wednesday.  See you then.

World Cup and Anime (not what you think)

Ah, yes, the World Cup has come and gone once again, and while I was watching the U.S. win, lose, and tie, I thought once again about anime. I certainly thought about the Whistle! manga I love and things I'll never see legally translated and imported like Captain Tsubasa, but mostly I thought about G Gundam.

I remember months ago when people weren't even sure the World Cup would happen in Africa on account of people threatening to kill soccer players who came to the event. I thought of books like How Soccer Explains the World and others. I thought of wars and conflicts and death tolls of civilians and soldiers. Of course I started thinking of G Gundam.

Sometimes I wonder if the idea of having a tournament every X years to decide who'll be in charge for the next bit couldn't possibly be any crazier and more painful than what we have now. It would be like the World Cup meets the Olympics meets some huge holiday parade. With Gundams instead of floats. I am, of course, joking. (Mostly.)

I think I'll just settle for watching G Gundam again and waiting for the next World Cup. Who will triumph then?  Four years until we find out . . .

More Banana Fish Discussion

Yay!  Part three of the lovely dissection of one of my favorite manga series continues!  It's fun to read several very different people geeking out about the same series in a semi-organized fashion.  I'm a sucker for coherent discussions.  Anyway, here was one of my favorite comments from the discussion.

"MICHELLE: I definitely got the sense that Ash was trying to protect Eiji’s innocence as well as Eiji himself. And I actually thought it was rather mature of Eiji to agree to absent himself from the fray. Too often, unqualified characters insist on tagging along with the hero and get into trouble and we are asked to have sympathy for their plight while the hero has to take time out of what he was trying to accomplish to save their incompetent butts. It’s a wise character who knows his limits and doesn’t even attempt to get into that situation."

Preach it, sister.  If I have to watch one more idiot dragging down the protagonist . . .  Well, I don't care if it's a boy or a girl: it's annoying, and if certain action works were more realistic, it would be frequently lethal, and then we wouldn't have to watch the dead weight/eye candy drag our action further away from reality.  I don't really know where I was going with that, but I don't think I got there.  Anyway, it is a sign of maturity to let wiser heads rule (especially if you don't want your head to roll).  Also, very Japanese.  Kind of subtle, that . . .  Stay in the car, Chuck. (To be fair, Chuck is supposed to be a comedy.  Most of the action works I'm referring to, whatever they are, are not.)

I am still holding strong in my pledge not to have a Banana Fish marathon at least until after I've finished moving stuff around in the apartment and getting some more books I'm being paid to read read, darn it.  And I will definitely not think about how this would be the most actually possible American live-action-TV-series-adaptations of a manga ever.  Self-control is a virtue.  Really.  Sob.

So, what series can you think of where you just wanted to sneak up behind and stab the idiot sidekick dragging down the protagonist?

Still with the computer issues

Yeah, it took me an hour and a half to post to another one of my blogs, so I'm going to have to post something here tomorrow because I have to get to bed to be up on time for work tomorrow.  There may be an actual tag-team review this week!

Selections from what I watched in June: digest version

I didn't really watch a whole lot of anime last month.  This was because I got that dream job (!) and then had some out-of-state family reunions for nearly half the month.  I did manage to watch a really great classic silent film.  It was better yet more confusing than I expected.  Anyway . . .

• b Black Blood Brothers    It ended pretty well.  I'd recommend this one in Japanese because the little main character is less, er, fakey-grating.  And less ridiculous when you're reading, not hearing exactly what he says.  A little too much info dumping and scrambling to explain at the end, but there were some good twists and great characters that make me really want to read the novels that come after where the series left off.  Fantastic extras, too.  I don't think I've ever seen a novel-to-anime adaptation that let the author comment and really add value to the episode by providing extra information.  Also, I definitely never heard a commentary where they drink wine and get progressively more out of it.  Overall: Unique and entertaining and slightly pervy sometimes.  The show.  Well, and the commentaries, too.
• b Clannad    Weeping.  I really did struggle with a lot of the trite, trope-ridden cliched-ness of the girls and their roles in the show; things went better when there wasn't as much of a focus on that gal-game throwback.   Then again, that didn't stop some things from being really touching, even if I was kicking and screaming along the way.  I'm not sure I like this trend of extra episodes at the end.  It was slightly irksome in Solty Rei and more irksome here because why bother with alternate endings when you have a sequel series?  Ah, well. 
• b Girl Who Leapt through Time    So good!  I can't tell you how disappointed I was not to make it to the theater release.  This would have been glorious in a theater!  Really solid dub, fun plot, good suspense/tension, lovely animation, good music, delightfully nostalgic and awkward relationships.  I'm going to watch it again with commentaries.  Yay.

It might be a lean month of July, as well, what with my background DVDs of choice being MacGyver and Chuck (borrowed from my family at those reunions), but I also have some re-watches I'm looking forward to watching/listening to as I pack my manga library off to a storage facility nearby to try to cut down on my allergies to book dust.  I'll be sad to see them go but happy to have the chance to alphabetize them again because I am a HUGE NERD, and I love it!

Still floored by Bunny Drop

I just reread this one, and it's really solid.  I feel like I could recommend this to serious manga-reading friends, casual manga-reading friends, mom and dad who don't read manga, friends who don't read manga, and adoption agencies, especially ones that deal with older kids.  That's quite the range.

If you haven't heard of it, Bunny Drop is the story of a single man in his 30s who takes in a recently deceased relative's child when no one else in the family will.  He was being sort of chivalrous, and he's not prepared for suddenly having a child, but the important thing is that he's willing to do what's necessary and adapt.  It's sweet and restrained and awkward and quietly funny.  I really don't want to wait for volume 2; I want to read it right now.  Way to go, Yen Press, for another fine choice.

What I Read in May: Digest Version, Part 3 of 3

Right, so the death of my computer sort of interrupted things, but here it is: part 3 of May reading. I know you were waiting on the edge of your seats.  :)

• b 20th Century Boys 8: I really kind of hated that girl at first, but I'm genuinely afraid for her now. This is why I'm glad 9 will be waiting for me very soon.
• b Millennium Prime Minister 3: I am still having disjointed fun with this one. Volume 3's twist was pretty much out of nowhere, but, like I said, I'm still having a quirktastic time.
• b My Girlfriend's a Geek 1: I liked it. I've read criticisms of it from people who've also read Fujoshi Rumi. In my mind, they're two distinct and somewhat incomparable entities because their target audiences (in the US at least) seem kind of different. Would I let my mother read My Girlfriend's a Geek? Yes. Fujoshi Rumi. NO. Here are some great quotes from a review I got a kick out of from the always enjoyable Shaenon Garrity.

"Taiga accepts her anyway, mainly because he has no idea what fujoshi means."

"For a male otaku, these might be the makings of a dream girl, but for Taiga, whose nerdiness is limited to enjoying the occasional sports manga, Yuiko is a minefield of weirdness he could never have imagined."

"Beneath the geeky references, however, My Girlfriend's a Geek is a universally relatable story about dating a crazy girl."

• b Name of the Flower 4 of 4: Still sweet and sad and somewhat inconclusive, this series ends well.  I mean that it doesn't punk out at the end, not that things were suddenly chipper and unrealistic.  I am so happy the author didn't try to tie everything up into a big, fake, happy ending bow. Instead we get a sober and realistic last volume about awkward human relationships. It's heartbreaking and beautiful and breathtaking and endearing. I kind of liked it, if you couldn't tell.
• b Otodama 1: I loved it. I'm a Youka Nitta fan, controversy notwithstanding, and this is some great non-yaoi work. Lots of tension. Nice.
• b Otomen 6: Hilarious. Learn what shojo manga artists are really all about. I wonder what Meca Tanaka would think about this story.
• b Tsubasa 26: Are we there yet? Because once this is over, I have to go back and reread from about volume 20 and then from the beginning and hope I get it.
• b Twin Spica 1: Astoundingly good. Can I call this hard sci-fi with the ghost?
• b XXXholic 15: Erm, I'm still not ENTIRELY sure what's going on, but I still love this series SO MUCH.

June is going to be a little slim, what with traveling and computer death and the new job, but I still read some great stuff I'll share with you later.  Stay tuned . . .