What I read in February: Digest Version, part 5 of 5

Yes, 5.  I had a book binge weekend, and it included a lot of manga.  A lot of manga . . .  Yum. 

b Two Flowers for the Dragon 1-6: I am irritated that I will never get to read the last volume (CMX, RIP) because I would really like to know how it all turns out.  I have a guess, but I don't have a "know."  A couple volumes back, I would have said she would have to choose X, but Y started creeping back into the running.  And now I'll never know unless some sort of super-unlikely license rescue of a single volume occurs.  JManga or DMP, help me out here?

b W Juliet 8-9: Fun times.  So nostalgic.  I've read some negative reviews of this series, so I wondered if I wouldn't like it as much since I've read so much manga since then, but I still found it fun and energetic.  Kind of goofy cross-dressing fun.

b Whistle! 9: And then on to the shonen soccer madness!  Just makes me want to get out and exercise and try my hardest at something.

b Wild Adapter 6: Oh, Wild Adapter.  You are so terrifying.  So, so terrifying.  I feel like this is how shojo romances with one partner who always gets kidnapped should work.  If the vengeance was like this, I would never let myself get kidnapped again.  In some ways, it's an okay place to have a story just stop, but I really want to know what happens next and after that . . .

b xxxHolic 19: I've heard lots of complaining about this ending.  I guess I understand people wanting something big and bombastic or at least splendid and conclusive, but this second bit of the series was supposed to be kind of a coda, I thought, and I was okay with it sort of tapering off and ending on a melancholy, unresolved note.  I thought it fit the series, if not other people's expectations.  Of course, then I went to Amazon and read L. Smith's amazing review and realized I totally didn't get anything at all about this book.  Thank you, L. Smith.  Wow.  Just wow.

What I Read in June: Digest Version, 2 of 3

p Gorgeous Life of Strawberry-chan: Um, nah.

b Kekkaishi 25: Oh, oh dear!  Things are converging, and it's dangerous, and I'm afraid for these characters because they author has shown she will let them die.

b Kiichi and the Magic Books 2-5: Kind of amazing.  I've been a bit off the sorts of books where the main character can save the world at the cost of his life/freedom and where the surrounding cast keep arguing the merits and drawbacks of it for him, but something about this series made it not make me crazy.  The art?  The overall sort of gentle tone?  I don't know.


b Knights of the Zodiac  11: "That's insane!  I can't believe it!  I never imagined a man like you could exist in this world, Shiryu."  Oh, wow.  No wonder this series was the ultimate fangirl fodder.  Hilarious, straight faced lines that make me cringe and laugh at the same time.

b Kurogane Communication 1: I saw this anime series around the time I was first getting into anime.  I don't think GoComi! finished publishing it, but I don't know.  It wasn't great, but it was coherent.  Great character designs, too.

b Library Wars: Love & War 5: Hee hee, I still love it.  This kind of goofy, kind of surreal series makes me happy not only because it has combat librarians but because it's this wacky combo of action drama and romantic comedy.  Sigh.

b Love*Com 16: My go-to romantic comedy series when I need a good laugh.  Quality stuff.

b Natsume's Book of Friends 7: Holy cow!  Plot thickening incoming!  Whoa.  Wow.

b NG Life 4: I love it for the way Keidai goes ballistic and the way his friends enjoy the show.  I love it for the past lives that are impinging on the present.  I love it's comedy and its drama, it's weirdness and its tenderness.  Yeah, I just have to thank Tokyopop for getting the last volume out before the big fail.

Selections from What I Read in December: Digest Version, Part 2 of 4

• b My Girlfriend's a Geek 2 (manga):  The following quotes really say it all.

"You buy the magazines and then the volumes later? Why not just pick one?"
"Extra material! Added details! Redrawing! Afterwards! And having a copy on hand for perpetuity! The benefits are myriad!!"

"Of course, the game itself is fun and all. But it's the main character screams that are the real treat!"

• b Nana 21:  Oh, dude.  I agree this was a "good" place for the author's health to fail because it nearly works as an ending, but it also feels like we're only a couple volumes away from the real ending, and I'd like to complete that journey.  Then again, I don't want it to end.  It might get more sad . . .   From the extra comics at volume's end: "It's more like the main story keeps crushing the readers' dreams, so no one is reading it anymore."

• b Ooku 5: This series is beautiful, tragic, political, simultaneously so Japanese and so universal.  A couple of old characters make brief, heart-breaking appearances.  I find it kind of breathtaking that in this series, often the most loving gesture is to NOT have sex.  Whoa.

• b Skip Beat! 22: I'm with Mr. Yashiro; I would pay to see how Ren Tsuruga taught Kyoko to walk like a female model.  :)  I'm told we're now caught up to Japan.  Where's my Tokyo Crazy Paradise to tide me over?

• b Suihelibe 2 of 2: I do feel that I need to point out that the title gets the periodic table out of order.  Thank you, Meg from A Wrinkle in Time.  Silly and cute with a rather unexpected and hilarious ending.

Selections from What I Read in December: Digest Version, Part 1 of 4

• b Astral Project 3-4:  Whoa.  Pretty darned subversive ending there, eh?  I mean, how frequently do you read serious, contemporary, seinen manga where they tell you the cure to what ails you is to get a solid job, work for a living, get married, and be a family?  Did I mention the out of body experiences, government conspiracies, suicide, yakuza work, murder, and jazz music?

• b D.Gray-man 8-10: How I love Black Friday sales + clearance shelves at Half Price Books.  And Alan and company, too, of course.

• b Her Majesty's Dog 5-6: Another fun find at Black Friday sales + clearance shelves at Half Price Books.  GoComi had some good series there; I'm sorry they went under (and not just because of Cantarella's unfinished limbo . . . )

• b HunterxHunter 8, 11-14: You guessed it: another fun find at Black Friday sales + clearance shelves at Half Price Books.  It's great that every time I read this series, I am reminded of how different it is from other shonen series I read.  Gon's simple sort of zenlike acceptance of/ambivalence to good and evil combined with his own moral code are totally quirky.  Killua's careful self-control and conscious reigning in of his trained sociopathic nature is a treat.  Their friendship is great.  I've mentioned before that Hisoka (Gon's antagonist) gives me chills (this particular artist seems to have a gift in that department), and the supporting characters are entertaining.

• b Lagoon Engine 7:  Yeeek!  I feel like maybe, just maybe, we're getting closer to the crossover stuff with Lagoon Engine Einsatz, but I am really trying not to get my hopes up because, let's be honest, Yukiru Sugisaki (the author) fails to finish at all most of the time.

Selections from What I Read in November: Digest Version, Part 4 of 4

The last batch of November fun here.

• b Honey and Clover 9-10 of 10: I'm kind of embarrassed about how many months I delayed reading the ending.  Since I've seen the anime, I knew what happened, but reliving that trauma was part of my reason for delaying.  The other part, of course, was simply not wanting to be done with it . . .  I love this series for its goofiness, for its earnest nostalgia, for its realistic portrayals of human relationships, for its joys and choices and sorrows.  It sure ain't all honey, but that's life.
• b NG Life 6: Yes, I still love this series way too much.  The comic timing for the mood switches is priceless, and I enjoy romantic comedy mode, past life ADHD mode, and serious/tragic mode equally well.
• b Saturn Apartments 2: Still a quiet, meandering story with hints of awesome.
• o Tale of a White Night: Okay.  Some creepy, creepy horror stories in this one.  Wow.  Yikes.  I'm definitely a fan of this artist's work, but I'm not so good with the creepy stuff.
• b Tears of a Lamb 1-7: Ah, Banri Hidaka's work . . .  Refreshing.  I laugh, I cry, I appreciate earned happy endings.  Her characters are so weird and fun, and they tend to go full throttle frequently.  I think the male lead in this one would commiserate a lot with the lead in NG Life since they both get their chains yanked around and freak out about it in a similar way.  Thank you, CMX, for being so good to Hidaka.  If only you had finished all the series you started . . .
• b Twin Spica 4:  I dig this sort of subtle character building.  It's not all people talking about themselves and their dark pasts; it's more hints and glimpses, facial expressions and actions.  Another slow-burn sort of title with a melancholy-nostalgic vibe.  Lots of unexpected revelations and the occasional emotional gut-punch requiring access to tissues.  I think this might be literature.  :)  Good stuff. 

So December is up next, and it's a doozy.  And I'm already collecting a ton for January.  Wow.  I've started writing up books as I read them, so I don't have to try to remember a bunch all at once from nearly two months ago.   There are so many good titles.  It's a good thing I'm using my local library or I would be even more in debt

Selections from What I Read in November: Digest Version, Part 3 of x

Well, I really had quite the month in November.  I must've gotten a lot of exercise.

• b D.Gray-Man 18-19: Oh, poor Allen.  Trauma upon trauma.  And now, because there are reasons (really excellent reasons), I am starting to warm up to everyone's favorite surly, long-haired, katana-wielding loner.  Poor kid.  And how 'bout them Noah?  Whoa.
• b Dengeki Daisy 1: Shojo (fantasy) with a mysterious undercurrent in the background.  Goofy characters occasionally flying off the handle in fun ways.  Nice.
• b Gakuen Alice 12: Yeah, this is the real stuff, the dark, horrific stuff that they excised from the anime.  Pardon me while I get more tissues.  I refuse to like certain people.  I don't care how much they try to make them sympathetic, you hear me?  I refuse. 
• b Kimi Ni Todoke 5-6:  Mwaaaaaa!  Sooooo cuuuuuuute.  poor Ryu!  (Hilarious quote about the great anime: "Gentle, exceedingly beautiful and thoroughly uplifting, Kimi ni Todoke is a gem of shojo romance with a welcome sequel on the way. Given the phenomenal success of shojo series stateside it's about as likely to be licensed as I am to spontaneously combust." -Carl  Alas.  Probably true.) 
• b Millenium Prime Minister 4 of 4: Sure.  Okay.  I enjoyed it.  I thought it was going to self-destruct at the end, but it didn't.  Not completely anyway.
• b Nightschool: Weirn Books 1-4: I'm not going to lie and say the ending didn't disappoint me, but as long as there's more coming and it ends well, I'm not complaining.
• b Oh My Brother 1-2: Another casualty of CMX.  Very different from the beautiful and melancholy Name of the Flower by the same author, but promising.  It could have been all kinds of creepy, but somehow, it's stayed on the upright side of the line.  Now we'll never know how it ends.
• b Palette of 12 Secret Colors 6: Awwwwww.  Fun and quirky right up to the end.
• b Real 9: Pardon me while I swoon.  This is difficult, amazing stuff.
• b Shaman King 31: Please, Viz, please license the good, thorough, real ending.  Please!

One more chunk to go, and then we're on to December!

Read anything good lately?

Selections from What I Read in November: Digest Version, Part 2 of 4

Well, now that the class I unwisely taught this semester (on top of my real full time job) is over, and I have scraped myself off the floor, I can get back to writing. 

• b Crimson Hero 14: More angst and volleyball.  Some folks make dumb decisions; others make smart ones.  Expiation via volleyball?  Bring it on.
• b D.Gray-Man 11: I do love the gorgeous gothicness of it all.
• o Diamond Girl 1:  Erm, I do want to read the next volume to find some things out, but I liked Princess Nine better.  I would have bought this series if CMX had kept publishing it because I always give sports manga love in the hopes that they'll bring more over here.
• b From Eroica with Love 15: Le Sigh.  I miss you, CMX.  A goofy and stupid story to go out on, but it came after a dangerous and stressful one, and it ended sort of neatly, so it was as good a place to end as any I could have hoped for.
• b Lapis Lazuli Crown 2: Goofy, sweet fun.  A happy ending.
• b My Darling Miss Bancho 1: This one was a total hoot.  A good steel plate in the school bag can come in handy.  The cast was goofy and fun, like a better drawn and completely different Cromartie High with a girl main character.
• b My Girlfriend's a Geek novel 1: I read some reviews of this one, and one talked about reasons he doubted the writer was really who and what he claimed to be for some reasons.  The reasons he disbelieved weren't the ones that made me suspicious.  (The thing that made me suspicious was the way the author knew all of the references and jokes that he did.  If he was only a very casual anime viewer, there's just no way he could have known some of these.)  That same reviewer complained about how it had a short and repetetive format.  This puzzled me.  If the blog was called My Fujoshi Girlfriend, why would you complain that every blog entry was about how much of a fujoshi his girlfriend was?  Sheesh.  I enjoyed the book.  Full of awkward and embarrassing moments in short chunks and packed with in-jokes and references.  I don't care if it was fiction, semi-autobiographical, or totally autobiographical.  It was entertaining.
• b Skip Beat! 21: Oh, the goofy, cursed joy of it all, and the frustration that it comes out sooooo verrrrrryyyyy sloooooowwwwlllyyyyy.
• b Suihelibe 1: Just pure sugary, silly goodness.
• b xxxHolic 16: Oh, so heartbreaking!  So sad!  You can tell by the expression on Watanuki's face on the cover. I want it to keep going, but I also want resolution (really excellent, well-done, well-earned resolution).  The way all the characters are so careful around each other is painful, as are some of the choices they've made.  Oh, how I love this series. I think I may need to marathon Tsubasa to figure out what exactly, you know, happened, but everything is still nicely melancholy whether you understand exactly or not.

I have some catching up to do, so I'll be posting a bunch this month unless some new crisis arises.  Until next time . . .  Read anything good lately?

Selections from What I Read in November: Digest Version, Part 1 of 4

• b Alive 2-5: Still fascinated by this one.  Not sure exactly where it's going but curious to find out.  I always like the early parts of stories that may end up in earned redemption.  Or no redemption, but I don't think DelRey usually published that kind.
• b Hikaru no Go 21: Well, I didn't see THAT coming.  Thank you for it, weasel boy.
• b Hollow Fields 1: Pretty darned fun.  I am totally tracking down the other two volumes, and they will also be fun.  I want a talking professor box.
• b Kekkaishi 23: Oh how I love thee!  Action, characters I like and can keep separate, humor, danger, intrigue, politics, interpersonal awkwardness . . .  All I can say is, you better not turn your sights on the youngest bro, bad guys.  It will be your doom . . .
• b Key to the Kingdom 6 of 6: Excellent all the way through.  Such a bittersweet ending.  Oh, man.  I really loved this one, despite the sometimes awful cover art.  (I miss you, CMX!)
• b Othello 1: Ahhh.  I remember why I liked this one so much.  If only it hadn't fitzed out/been cancelled and ended too abruptly.  But that's several volumes away, so I just enjoyed this one again.
• b Otomen 8: This series is so bad for my asthma when I'm exercising.  Seriously.
• b Spiral 13: Yes, I DO like Case Closed/Detective Conan, too, thank you very much.  And, yes, I did cry.
• b Stolen Hearts 1: Adorable.  Sad that I may never read the second volume.  (I miss you, CMX!)
• b Venus Capriccio 4: Well, it was the last volume published here, but it wasn't really an ending.  Fun times while it lasted.  (I miss you, CMX!)

Good times last month.

Selections from What I Read in October: Digest Version, Part 3 of 3

Hooray!  I'm caught up right now.  I will bask in the moment!

• b King of RPGS 1: This was awesomely silly.  I do not play RPGs and have never played collectible card games or anything, and I still got a kick out of this one.  It's one of the better east meets west attempts.  The over-the-top shonen bits made me look forward to a second volume that will probably never come.  Sadness.
• b Kingyo Used Books 2: Still best served one chapter at a time.  Reminds me of the power of books, even if it gets a bit clumsy about it sometimes.  I'll be writing more about that soon . . .
• b Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 11: Oh, dear.  Light refraction suits and the nature of good and evil.  Also lots of corpses and a really creepy long story that is just really horrific.  Also those amazing notes.
• o Mail 1-3: Meh. There were times when this was genuinely creepy and disturbing, but I'm not a big fan of just creepy and disturbing.  I wonder what the authors could do with this if they gave it another run in 5 years.  I'll admit that the Pinoko-like assistant twist toward the end was weird and creepy.
• b Prince of Tennis 18-19: Ah, light, breezy, intense shonen action.  No romance, no corpses.  Stupid kids injuring themselves to (fail to) prove a point.  Then again, they are only 14 or 15, so it's not out of character for them to be a bit too narrowly focused.  (Like I should talk after all the injuries and illnesses I played through.)  And I know coaches in Japan are different and that their junior high and high school sports are way different from ours, but I can't believe the coach let that happen.  Seriously.  Coaches get fired for that here.  Fun times.  :)
• b Venus Capriccio 1-4: Gentle.  Nice.  Unfinished.  Drat.  Oh, CMX . . .  I like the ones that involve music, no matter how melodramatic they get.  VS is another one I'm trying to track down a few last volumes of, so I can finish that one.  Ah, Nodame, when are you coming out next?

While the last few months have been a bit lean, November, due to a couple of book binges, was pretty great.  Look forward to it.  :)

Selections from What I Read in September: Digest Version, Part 2 of 2

September seems so far away now . . .

• b Boys Over Flowers 28-29: I will have to marathon this some day.  It might actually take three parts or so because I'm not sure I can put up with their ridiculousness for more than 10 volumes at a time . . .
• b Broken Blade 1: I got a kick out of the series. I'm fairly disappointed that I'll never get to find out what happens.
• o CLAMP School Detectives 3: I try to pretend that I'm not a completist.  I try hard. I fail.
• b From Eroica with Love 2-3: Just utterly ridiculous and fun.  Who knew NATO could be involved in such silliness?
• b Goong 7-9: it's funny that every time I get a volume of this series, for some reason I think it's going to be the last even though the series has some ridiculous number of volumes. I remember the same thing would happen with Fruits Basket and Hana Kimi.  For some reason, I can never accurately remember the number of volumes in a series.
• b House of Five Leaves 1: Okay, if I weren't a Ono fan before I read this, I would be now.  We really don't get enough serious samurai period drama manga over here for some reason.
• b Sand Chronicles 9: I wasn't sure how much value these exercise stories would add since the main story concluded already, but I'm really pleased.
• b Shaman King 30: I'm pretty sure I say this every single time, but how can I possibly forget how breathless the series makes me?  It's kind of funny that I forget, but I find myself doing about double time on the stair climber whenever I read this one while exercising.
• b Twin Spica 2-3: This is really an intriguing series. It might be a good series to show people the difference between manga aimed at younger teens and manga aimed at older people.  It's a school story, but it doesn't read at all like shojo or shonen.  It covers the same territory, but it does it with such a different tone and focus and execution that I'm not sure people the age of the protagonists would even find it interesting. I'd be curious to find out.  I love and hate every time the main story ends with a lot of pages left over. I whine every time, but I love those flashback stories . . .
• b We Were There 3: Yes, due to being poor, I'm way behind in this series.  I'm really liking the careful, sad brokenness this manga is not afraid to show.  People get screwed up pretty bad, and we stumble around hurting each other sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose.  And sometimes, when it's happening to our friends and loved ones, we just have to watch it happen because there isn't anything we can do to fix them.  It's a sobering realization you don't see in much of the manga that makes it over here. Bring it on!

Next up, October, which looks kind of scant until you see that I sort of binged on a whole series . . .  Look forward to it!

Elegy for Apothecarius Argentum 8

I just finished volume 8, and I am in mourning.  Not just for character X, whose death has been bumming me out every time I think of it all day (poor character X!!!!), but for the fact that I will NEVER FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENS. 

Seriously, I'm going to go cry some more about the demise of CMX, the company who published this fine series with its slightly amateurish art and its startling ability to casually go where no manga I've read has gone before.  Euthanasia, abortion, slavery, prostitution: is this really a shojo manga (nothing at all like Banana Fish)? 

And two characters finally got to walk a bit holding hands, and then political chaos breaks out!  And this totally unexpected cliffhanger with a zillion converging loose ends leaves you wanting more NOW, and you can't have it because you are a good, law-abiding citizen (seriously contemplating breaking copyright law to find out what happens because you can't buy what happens next).  A sad, aborted "ending" for another fine series that deserved a full run.

Go read it now before even what we have is out of print.  Oh, my poor character X!  This sucks for us all!

Selections from What I Read in September: Digest Version, Part 1 of 2

Ah, September.  When suddenly I remember why I hate the short warm time we call summer up here that starts in June and ends in August.  Well, that's not true.  It reminds me why I hate the cold time that runs from September through May.  This is a temperate zone, right?  I've got my manga and exercise to keep me warm.

• b Chi's Sweet Home 1-2:  Totally adorable.  Seriously.  Warm fuzzies and short laughs as you follow a cute kitten and the family that takes her into their pet free apartment and has to hide her.  Also found out where her cute name came from and nearly had a spasm.
• b Jihai 1: I have read people tearing this one to shreds as boring and lame.  I like it.  I really do.  Those end-of-book cliffhangers were great the first time through, and I didn't think knowing how they resolved hurt the reread value for me (since I sort of forgot most everything).  I liked all the various characters with their tortured pasts, too, and I liked the somewhat nonstandard ways they dealt with redemption and atonement. 
• b Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service 9-10: I talked about these already.  Same acid dark humor.  Same fantastic notes at the end.  How to know if you'll be able to handle the horror within: Can you look closely at the cover and not throw up?
• b Maison Ikkoku 12: Just like with the real people bumbling around in romantic relationships in your life, you just want to shake these people sometimes, too.
• b Saturn Apartments 1: Totally great.  Seriously unusual.  Earnest, sweet, and sad.  The story of a future when Earth is uninhabitable, and everybody lives on a big ring around the earth.  Mainly follows the story of a young orphaned boy who chooses to be a window washer, a dangerous and sometimes thankless job (the job his father died doing).  Slice of life sci-fi.
• b Silver Diamond 3: Can the power of nice save the world?  Find out here.
• b A Tale of an Unknown Country 1-2: I'm pretty bummed there won't be more of this one.  It irked me a bit because it got my hopes up when it laid out a really serious, realistic sort of scenario in a broken relationship between brothers.  Then it shojo-powered through all the careful setup and tried to bulldoze on with the power of genki.  I shouldn't have let it get my hopes up, but situations like this particular one that break relationships between siblings are of interest to me, and I wanted to see how they dealt with it.  Now I'll never know if they redeem themselves by treating it seriously again.  Alas.
• b Tsubasa 27: I'll admit that I have no idea what that was all about.  I think some day when I marathon this series, it will make (more) sense.
• b Tuxedo Gin 1:  So he dies, but he gets to come back as a penguin, live out a penguin's natural lifespan, and then be returned to his body.  He picked a penguin for sentimental reasons.  I wouldn't picked the shortest living critter I knew about.  But that's because I'm not in love with someone who adores penguins.  Well, and there are other reasons such as reality . . .

 A lot of variety here this month.  Good month.

Selections from What I Read in August: Digest Version, Part 1 of 2

Yeah, August. I know you've been waiting with baited breath and all. Sorry. Ah, the joy of catching up because you're waiting for your linens to dry, so you can make your bed and fall into it.

• b Dazzle 7: You never know when this one is actually giving you the whole story via flashback (you're pretty sure it's not, but then it seems like it is, but it's not . . .). It's still kind of a glorious mess.
• b Fullmetal Alchemist 23: Oh, Roy. Oh, Roy. And Risa. Wow. Does anyone know if Brotherhood actually goes to the real end of the series? If so, I can't watch it until I've finished the manga. If you like FMA, read the manga!
• b GALS! 8-10: I dragged my feet so much on finishing this one because I didn't want it to be over!! Oh, the melodrama; oh, the humanity!  Fare thee well, my GAL pals. Next time I need a dose of hyper, I know who to call. (And finally, big bro and Miyu.)
• b Gente 1: Ah, so relaxing. A mixed bag of stories revolving around the waiters of Ristorante Paradiso. Same sketchy Ono artwork and tons of atmosphere.  Quite lovely.
• b Hayate the Combat Butler 10-13: More of the same random, goofy fun. The difference is, we're getting to the allusions I recognize firsthand now, and they do make things funnier.
• b Hikaru no Go 20: The shonen goodness keeps coming.  Things changed directions a bit, but I'm still having fun, though I do miss Sai a lot sometimes.
• b Kaze Hikaru 18: Oh, I love this series. I am afraid of how it will end, considering how history did end. I don't think I could bear to read these characters all the way to their unhappy endings. But the tension that known ending provides is undeniably necessary for the series to function as it does. It's just so great!
• b Kekkaishi 22: Oh, dear. Complications and maturing and really scary psycho bad guys. Oh my. I love the air of menace it builds up and then blows up and the unexpected turns it takes. I love the characters, the plot, the action, the intrigue, the shonen-adrenaline rush, the whole shebang.
• b Library Wars 2:  I love this series. Awww. So funny and so sweet. Good action/tension going for it, too, sometimes.

So maybe I didn't quite manage to get sunburned, as was my goal during a weekend in October where there was no rain, and the temps exceeded 80, but I did get to read part of Kieli 3 outside in the sun. Your promptness is appreciated, Yen Press, oh, so appreciated.

Selections from What I Read in July: Digest Version, Part 1 of 2

Ahhhh.  I'm starting to get back in the swing of exercising again (much earlier in the morning courtesy of my new corporate job), and this means more manga!  Especially more GALS!  Unfortunately, soon I will be done with GALS!  This is sad.  There's a lot more manga to read, though, so that's not sad.

• b Bunny Drop 1: I love this series, as I've mentioned.  It's realistically awkward and funny.
• b Crimson Hero 13: WAAAARRRGGGHHH.  I really like this series.  Sports and drama and more drama.  And growing up.  Sigh.
• b Deka Kyoshi 2: Awwww.  This story of the plucky cop undercover as a teacher in an elementary school full of kids dealing with real life issues is full of excitement and hard to sell.  The issues the kids are dealing with are more realistic than what we like to let our kids read, so it has a teen rating, but I'm not so sure teens will be as interested in this stuff.  Oh, well.  There's a good mystery going on, and we had some great revelations this time around.  I can't remember if the rest of this series came out before the Great CMX Shutdown.  I do hope so because I want to know what really happened to the teacher who died.
• b GALS! 6-7: Seriously, there is no better pick-me-up than GALS.  This stuff is light-years ahead of Gossip Girl and other trashy teen novels.  The gals are kind of all about having fun, but they're not about being vicious and stabbing each other in the back.  And they help a lot of people along the way.  The balance between silly and serious is just spot on because different plot threads are developing simultaneously.  It's just kind of awesome.  Thank goodness the whole series made it in print.  Now I want to watch the anime again.
• b Library Wars 1: Okay.  So fun.  It's tough to communicate why this is so fun when the premise is that the state has set censorship laws, and the local governments are letting the libraries fight back, literally.  This is the story of one of the few women to get accepted for the library's combat arm and the CO she thinks is out to ruin her life (and how they fall in hilarious and awkward love).  There's a great supporting cast.  I really want the anime and the original novels over here.  Pretty please?
• b Musashi #9 17: Been there. Cried over that.  Farewell, #9, One-Niner, and Co.  I'll never know how the stupid rich kid adventure ends . . .
• b The Name of the Flower1: Sketchy and sweet.  Still.  And really tough to get ahold of unless you get lucky or are rich.
• b Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei 3: The darker side of funny.  Might be over the heads of the casual fan, but if you're a fan of biting satire and know a decent amount about Japanese culture, you will get a HUGE kick out of this.  The Power of Negative Thinking, indeed.

Let me know if you've read anything great lately.  See you next time.

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.

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 . . .

Requiem for CMX

CMX, one of my favorite manga publishers, is dying. 

To mourn their passing, I'm taking a trip down memory lane to celebrate all the good times CMX brought me.  I made some lists.  Shut up; it's soothing. Connie over at Slightly Biased Manga did the same thing in an angry, funny, well-written post that includes more than bare bones summaries of some of her favorites.

What do my lists tell you?  (Aside from the fact that I am an indiscriminate, omnivorous reader, which you may already know, and the fact that I was too saddened [actually, just in too much pain] to do all the links, though I may try to fill some in later.)

1. CMX has made me very happy over the last six years.  I was slowly (as my budget allowed) collecting a LOT of their series, and I am heartbroken to see them summarily ungently kicked into that good night.
2. You should buy any of these titles that interest you before they're gone. 

What don't my lists tell you?  Which ones I've talked about in "What I Read" posts.  Most of them had at least some CMX.

Complete Series I've enjoyed at least part of

• Astral Project: Trippy.
• Battle of Genryu: I really wanted to know what was going to happen next.
• Canon: A little shojo horror from a master of it. A lot of reversals in such a short series.
• Chikyu Misaki: Cute and sometimes creepy. The baby loch ness monster thing was just irresistable, and you had to love the guest starring role featuring WOlverine.
• Cipher: THe 80s will never die! Just a treat the whole way through, even when it was pretty dark. If you liked Fame back in the day . . .
• Deka Kyoshi: I really did like this one for its ability to go to very dark places that kids sometimes have to face unprepared because no one will talk to them about certain situations.
• Devil Does Exist: Snotty, bratty, and fun romantic comedy with very stylish artwork.
• Dokkoida?!: Dumbest superhero costume ever; silly and stupid and fun series.
• Emma: Beautiful in every way.
• Empty Empire: I still wanted to know what happened next.
• Flat Earth Exchange: In the end, I really did enjoy it.
• Gals!: SuperGALS! forever! Like the anti-afterschool special.
• Jihai: Short, sweet sci-fi trilogy about what we do to make the most of the time we have. And stuff.
• Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne: Tanemura. 'Nough said.
• Key to the Kingdom: Really underappreciated gem of old-school, straight-fantasy. Great stuff.
• Kiichi and the Magic Books: Quirky, sad, wonderful.
• King of Cards: Yeah, why did they license this? It wasn't because Tateno was famous here (that came later), but I thought this series was a hoot because of the versatility it showed.
• Land of the Blindfolded: Sweet, sometimes sad romance with some supernatural touches.
• Lapis Lazuli Crown: Fun, quick shojo goodness.
• Lizard Prince: Yeah, kind of adorable and quirky and relaxing.
• March on Earth: Yes, there was some melodrama, but there were these transcendent moments that made it worthwhile.
• Monster Collection: Trashy, violent, fanservice in its quirky fantasy version.
• Moon Child: Out of this world. Literally. And that ending. Like a roller coaster in a dark building.
• Name of the Flower: Sad, quirky, tender story about how we can't save each other sometimes.
• Omukae Desu: Weird and wonderful.
• Oyayubihime Infinity: Fate, destiny, tattoos. Really fun.
• Palette of 12 Secret Colors: Breezy, lovely, quirky, wonderful, like most of this author's stuff.
• Penguin Revolution: Cheerful and genki and adorable.
• Pieces of a Spiral: Wanted to know what happened.
• Recipe for Gertrude: Adored this quirky, category-defying work of weirdness with its somewhat detached heroine and its odd moments of tenderness and humor.
• Seimaden: Dark love story fantasy. Cough You Higuri Cough.
• Sword of the Dark Ones: Violence, swords, angst, shorter than Berserk.
• Tears of a Lamb: Kind of a psychological vaguely relational school drama.
• Tenryu: The Dragon Cycle: I like the artist. Her characters are delightfully cranky on a regular basis.
• Tower of the Future: Fan of the artist, but I did like this story's quirkiness.
• VS (Versus): Bring on the music melodrama!
• Young Magician: Dark, dark fantasy where very bad things happen.

Incomplete Series I've enjoyed at least part of

• Apothecarius Argentum: This one hurts.  Sort of classy and classic and restrained and just great.
• Ballad of a Shinigami: Quirky short stories about a little Shinigami and the people she meets.
• Broken Blade ?: Shonen mech fantasy magic world political drama love story war thing. Very nice.
• Crayon Shinchan: So very, very wrong. I had to babysit a kid like this once, so I know they exist.
• Fire Investigator Nanase: I was curious to find out how it all turned out.
• From Eroica With Love: Ridiculous, hilarious, highly inappropriate.
• Gon: Astounding and brilliant. No text, just things that would make the Nature Chanel seem benign and boring.
• I Hate You More Than Anyone: Funny, twisted romantic comedy.
• Musashi Number Nine: I am a sucker for teenage spies.
• Swan: Oh, dear.  I loved this one.
• Two Flowers for the Dragon: I wrote about this delightful title once.
• Venus Capriccio: Cute and breezy romantic story with a slight twist.
• Venus in Love: I kind of adored this melodrama-free slice-of-romantic-life college story.

Series I never had a chance to enjoy even part of (but wanted to)

Classical Medley, Diamond Girl, Go Go Heaven!!, Go West!, Kikaider Code 02, King of Debris, My Darling! Miss Bancho, Oh! My Brother, Steel Fist Riku, Stolen Hearts, Suihelibe!, Tale of an Unknown Country, Teru Teru x Shonen, Time Guardian, World I Create, Any of the new ones with one volume out.

Here are some other announcements and reactions.  Excuse me while I go cry.

Do you have any CMX series you're going to really miss?

Selections from what I read in April: digest version part 3 of 4

No matter how bad things are at work, there is always escapism to ground you in reality.

• b Boys Over Flowers 26-27: The best thing about having to catch up is getting to read two volumes in a row!
• b Hikaru no Go 19: How can I love a manga about go so much and have no real interest in Go?  Who cares!
• b June 1: Well, this was way more mature than I thought it would be.
• b Kaze Hikaru 17: Hearts.  Lots of hearts.  I can't tell you how much I adore this series.
• b One Thousand and One Nights 10 of 11: Oh, dear.
• b Penguin Revolution 3: Sooooo cuuuuuute.  I am kind of a huge fan of this author now, I think.
• b Shoulder a Coffin Kuro 2: Wow.  Really stunning.  Get this: the author actually gives reasons behind things like the glasses and the hat and the black clothes and the coffin and even the talking bat(s).  That was surprising given the sort of fable-like tone of the work.  Lesser authors would have made those things part of the willing suspension of disbelief.  Great production values, great mystery, great choice, Yen!
• b Spiral, Vol. 11 11: Ouch. Seriously. Well, at least now we actually know who the Blade Children are.  Kind of.
• b Tsubasa 24-25: I really do need a flow chart . . .
• b Yotsuba&! 8: Here is a great review of this book.  It heals my soul.  Especially the part where she's pouncing on acorns.  Sigh.

Read anything good lately?

Selections from what I read in April: digest version part 2 of 4ish

Hooray for exercise!

• b  Astral Project 2: Hrm.  Dark and serious.  Too long since I read volume 1.  I couldn't remember anyone's backgrounds.  Still pretty compelling, especially once I was up to speed on who they were . . .
• b  Gals! 5: Oh, hyper!  More Ran-chan, ko-gal goodness, pursuit of justice, and loud, ridiculous, fun.  I love this series in whatever form it takes! How a static series of images can manage this much hyper-energy is beyond me.
• b  Love Attack 6:  Um, did they really rate yet another volume of this graphic novel series with humorously portrayed alcoholic beverage consumption by obvious minors as T (13 up) instead of T+ (16 up)?  Yes, yes they did.  But it's okay, because there's a message: if you get drunk, you won't get to sleep with your boyfriend/girlfriend because you pass out in a humorous fashion.  Seriously?!  Come on.  Why do I still like this series this much?
• Never Give Up 8: I would very much like the next volume, Tokyopop.  Please?  Don't make me beg.  The art is, frankly, hideous, but the story is all goofy, warm-hearted, shojo goodness.  Will their love stand the test of all these ridiculous tests?  And is modeling really worth it?!
• b  Ooku 3: I adore this manga.  It is harsh and beautiful.  It captures a lot of the essential Romantic history of Japan.  Highly recommended for the more mature manga fan who adores tragedy, subtext, and that kind of serious, literary/historical fantasy that is underrepresented in the US.  If you like this one, try Lian Hearn's Tales of the Otori just because they're awesome and have a similar feel.
• b  Palette of 12 Secret Colors 4: Soooo cute.  Good-natured and loveable.  Very pastel in a sort of calm, melancholy way.  Is that even possible?
• b  Pluto 8: The very ending was a tad irritating, but I still cried.  This series is exceptional.  Every fan of smart sci-fi should give it a try.  At 8 volumes, it's an outstanding shorter series and well worth your time.  Well done, Viz.  Really well done.  I'm sad that there won't be any more, but I'm pleased/content with how it turned out.  Sob.

Selections from what I read in April: digest version part 1 of 4ish

Brief break for a spate of sudden applications.  Hope springs eternal!  This may be in 4 parts.

• b I Hate You More Than Anyone 1: Yeah, I think I like Banri Hidaka for a lot of reasons (such as VB Rose and Tears of a Lamb).  Her relationship dynamics are often so goofy, and they should just be wrong and offensive, but they're so darn charming.  She captures the mis-communications of relationships (romantic and family) in a way that seems less cliched and dumb than a lot of shojo manga.  I also like that she writes related series with lots of crossover characters to discover.
• b Kiichi and the Magic Books 1: Enchanting.  I totally love this one.  Lots of subtle mystery generated from the very beginning, fascinating world being built, nice art.  Complex characters with ambivalent motivations and unexpected interactions (even when they're just peripheral characters) make for an absorbing read.  The School Library Journal likes it, too.  Great all-around, nearly all-ages fantasy manga goodness.  CMX/Flex, you guys rock.
• b Lagoon Engine 6: It is not fair that the author is being all cool and mysterious and tantalizing her readers with crossover details if she's never going to finish it!  I am pulling my figurative hair out!  This series has been going on forever, and this artist (mostly of DNAngel fame) has a history of starting awesome things and then not finishing them.  She did a tantalizing one-volume cross-over called Lagoon Engine Einsatz, and we keep getting glimpses into that world, but we're moving at a glacial pace, and I'm afraid she won't finish any of the three she's working on.  So why do I torment myself?  Wicked cool mystery + deadly adorable yet somehow also realistic bickering sibling cuteness = irresisitable.
• b Whistle! 22:  Sports manga, how do I love thee?  Let me count the ways . . .  Why do US manga fans hate on sports manga so much?!  It baffles me.  This is great, adrenalin pumping stuff.  I get mad and yell, "Cheater head!" sometimes when I don't realize there are other people in the exercise room, and then I am mortified for 3.2 seconds before I am reading again.  It's so universal, yet so Japanese (in the way that mean, "this is baffling, and I don't get it, but obviously all of the other characters do because it is some kind of cultural thing").  Shigeki, I am so looking at you, right now, you little punk.  Grrrr.  In this volume, I learned that a red card puts you out of a tournament, not just a game.  Way to be observant, there, ref.  For, like, once.  Not that I'm bitter.

See you with part 2 in a few days.  As always, if one of these titles intrigues you, let me know, and I'll be happy to talk more about it in its own little post.  Until next time . . .