Nakama Britannica

After being lured into anime fandom through hard-edged science fiction and edge-of-your-seat action-fests I’ve always wondered how exactly I started to gravitate towards the whimsical drama and slice-of-life drama; my DVD collection and watch lists have taken on a split personality of sorts with the gritty thrillers and cyberpunk on one hand and mellow realistic fiction on the other. A sub-genre of sorts (we anime fans seem to love our categorising, preferably using as many loan-words as possible) to the lighter and softer side is that of iyashikei, which has taken on greater importance for me as time goes on. The strange thing is that it’s all too often overlooked by fans, hence my raving about it here.

Its meaning can loosely be translated as ‘healing’; the implication being that the experience of viewing an iyashikei anime is to mend a broken heart or soothe an aching head. It’s a niche for sure but for those of us who appreciate such things it’s a comfortable niche indeed.

Since it is in many ways a subdivision of slice-of-life (aka realistic fiction) iyashikei carries the same stigma among some viewers as being ‘boring’ or ‘uneventful’, in which the setting and storyline is mundane and unfocused, often reliant on character interaction and dialogue. Although too much of anything is a bad thing there is I think just cause for sitting down to watch something in which not a great deal happens.

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Great Artwork, Clear Storytelling, An Involving Cast of Characters…
Del Rey Manga Round-Up Spring 2008

I really love the classy Del Rey manga format, especially their in-depth ‘Translator’s Notes’ and previews of the next volume, but sometimes, of late, I’ve felt that all their loving presentation has been wasted some less than distinguished series. The winning formula - for me - is quite simple: great artwork, clear storytelling, and an involving cast of characters. Yet it’s surprising how many mangaka don;t quite manage to pull off combining all three. So I’m delighted to report that their two spring lead titles, Hiro Mashima’s ‘Fairy Tail’ and ‘Toto! The Wonderful Adventure’ by Yuko Osada are well worth investigating.

Toto! Volume 1 by Yuko Osada T Ages 13+
Kakashi is a boy with a dream: to see the world. Inspired by the travel journal left to him by his explorer father, he seizes the opportunity when a luxurious airship lands on his little island, and sneaks on board. Hiding out in the cargo hold, he is greeted lovingly by an adorable little puppy with an unusual collar. Little does he know that the airship is about to be hijacked by the notorious Man Chicken Family and that he’s in for a far more hair-raising adventure than he could possibly have imagined.

‘Toto!’ is a delight. Kakashi is a boy hero with all the optimism and determination of Monkey D. Luffy. The puppy, his constant companion, is named Toto by a young girl he meets in a cornfield whose name just happens to be…Dorothy. And the fact that Kakashi has already been described as looking like a ‘scarecrow’ just adds to the ‘Wizard of Oz’ references. But there’s much more to little puppy Toto than meets the eye, and plenty of tantalizing clues are placed by Osada throughout the narrative, hinting at extraordinary developments to come. So, ticks in all the boxes for sympathetic characterization and a well-crafted plot. But what makes this first volume stand out from many other likable shounen series, is the artwork. The drawings have a wonderful retro feel about them, especially in the depiction of the airship and the many members of the Man Chicken Family. Osada – and it’s the first time I’ve encountered this mangaka’s work – also has the knack of telling a story clearly and engagingly, frame by frame. Never once did I find myself asking in the action sequences (and there are many) ‘what’s going on here?’ Of course, it’s difficult after only one volume to tell if this truly is a classic shounen in the making, but ‘Toto!’ gets off to a great start and comes highly recommended.

Fairy Tail Volumes 1 & 2 by Hiro Mashima T Ages 13+
Witty, action-packed, and with a perky young celestial wizard named Lucy as heroine, ‘Fairy Tail’ hits the ground running and continues at a riotous speed to the end of each volume, hardly pausing for breath. Hiro Mashima brings all the skills that he honed on ‘Rave Master’ to his new series. Lucy sets out to join the magic guild known as ‘Fairy Tail’ and finds herself partnered with Natsu, a Salamander or fire-wielding wizard, and his blue winged cat, Lucky.

By Volume 2, this unlikely team is setting out on their first official job together, to steal a certain book and destroy it, and are already haggling over how to split the proceeds. Of course, nothing is as simple as it seems and they are soon pitted against the machinations of bizarre Duke Everlue and the formidable Vanish Brothers.

Mashima’s drawing style is often compared to Eichiro Oda’s ‘One Piece’ but I think that in ‘Fairy Tail’ he’s managed to break away from the master’s influence enough to establish a visual identity of his own. The new series is inventive and funny – and the villains are menacing enough to create a genuine sense of danger.
I’m a little more hesitant about whole heartedly recommending the next two new series, however, as neither makes such a strong statement as ‘Fairy Tail’ or ‘Toto!’. Nevertheless, each one is worth a look, and may well bear fruit in later volumes.

Yozakura Quartet Volume 1 by Suzuhito Yasuda OT Ages 16+
Hime (16) is the mayor of the town of Sakurashin and has superpowers. Ao is a satori, a demon who can read minds, and Kotoha has the ability to conjure up anything by using the right word. Akina (18) is the only guy in the quartet of friends and he has no superpowers. Yup, none at all. So when they are called on to defend the townspeople from a mad gunman or demon dogs, each member’s skills complements the others’ rather neatly. And Hime, something of a tsundere, reveals her dedication to her job when she declares to the others, “If something is a threat to this town, I’ll kill it without hesitation. Even if it were you guys. And if I turn out like that, kill me without hesitation too – and protect the town in my place!”

There’s a nice touch of self-parody at the end of the first volume, when Yasuda draws a ‘different’ fan-service version of an alternative beginning and there’s also some likeable Bonus Manga featuring the mangaka’s thoughts on the series, including the giveaway line, “My friend says it only gets interesting in Volume 2.”

It’s difficult to tell after one volume exactly where ‘Yozakura Quartet’ is going. The cover art is striking, the manga art is attractive and has a contemporary feel (always a plus point for me) and the lives of the characters are…interesting. Interesting but not that involving. Yet. The novelty comes from setting a super-powered teens story in a small town setting, where helping out in the local kindergarten can pose as much of a challenge to the teens as dealing with a supernatural happening. My quibble? Attractive as Yasuda’s art may be, the storytelling from frame to frame is sometimes difficult to follow. Things happen between frames, losing some of the impact of the drama. But all that may change in the second volume, as Yasuda hints. And there must be more to this series, because as I’m writing this review, an animated series based on ‘Yozakura Quartet’ has just been announced.

Minima! Volume 1 by Machiko Sakurai T Ages 13+
‘What would you do if your favorite toy came to life and became your best friend?’ asks the blurb for ‘Minima!’.

Nicori, the mouse-like creature that shy Ame Oikawa finds on a school outing to the Amusement Park, is alive. He can talk and move about – and, indeed, claims indignantly that he is not a mouse but a meerkat. And Ame could do with a friend; her classmates at middle school are, by and large, an unfriendly bunch, especially the girls who are jealous of her feelings toward Sasaki-kun, the ‘hot’ boy in the class.

This story has a strange vibe to it. From the blurb I was expecting a sweet shojo tale about schooldays and talking toys. But Ame’s school is very realistically depicted and her bullying classmates are all too convincingly unpleasant. And by the final chapter, the story suddenly turns very dark indeed as Ame is kidnapped, leading to a big cliff-hanger ending. Add to that the fact that I, personally, didn’t find big-eyed Nicori all that cute but rather creepy and the result is a story that doesn’t yet know what it’s trying to be. Maybe matters will improve in Volume 2…

It’s a pleasure to conclude with a series that’s already found its feet and is going from strength to strength.

Pumpkin Scissors Volume 2 by Ryotaro Iwanaga OT Ages 16+
‘Pumpkin Scissors’ got off to a strong start and the second volume not only manages to fulfil the promise of the first volume, but ups the stakes as well. The task faced by the Pumpkin Scissors (aka Imperial Army State Section III) is to help rebuild the Empire after the war. In their efforts to cut through the corruption that is rife in the war-ravaged country, the members of Pumpkin Scissors begin to realize that they are up against some powerful unseen enemies. First, there is the mystery surrounding the true identity of their newest member, gentle giant Randel Oland: gentle, that is, until faced with an armoured tank, when he turns into a fearless human demolition machine. Then there is the discovery that drug dealers are exploiting the refugees who have taken shelter in the sewer system. Lieutenant Alice Malvin and her squad uncover layers of corruption that may go deep into the heart of the military. And when they encounter a fearsome flamethrower, it seems that their time may be up. Is there a connection between this fearsome wielder of fire, who keeps moaning that he is freezing, and Randel? And why is Muze Caplan, head of the Caplan Institute’s Medical Research Department, so interested in them both?

‘Pumpkin Scissors’ continues to deliver an intelligent and involving story about the aftermath of war, whilst at the same time developing a bunch of quirky yet sympathetic characters. And there is genuine danger here; when Iwanaga’s characters are injured, there is no magic spell to heal them swiftly, they suffer pain – and some die.

Other highlights from Del Rey this spring include the eighth and final volume of Fuyumi Soryo’s excellent sci-fi thriller ‘ES: Eternal Sabbath’ and the ongoing crossover series by CLAMP: Volume 11 of ‘xxxHOLIC’ and Volumes 16 and 17 of ‘Tsubasa Chronicle’, completing the Tokyo Arc. But more on those another time….

Review copies supplied by the publisher www.delreymanga.com.

Kenji Kamiyama said in an interview talking about ‘Ghost in the Shell’ that the greatest science fiction is that which touches on important issues within today’s society. What Kamiyama is trying to illustrate is that his version of ‘Ghost in the Shell’ is at the cutting edge of science fiction. Indeed some of the greatest science fiction is that which challenge the social ‘norms’. For example Majel Barrett, wife of Gene Rodenberry, claims that ‘Star Trek’ was a vehicle for examining and challenging social ‘norms’ of that period in American history. This can easily be applied to Japanese science fiction. Susan Napier (professor of Japanese Literature and culture) critiques Japanimation as a synthesis of body, carnival and apocalypse. Through these main points she assesses other themes that convey elements and comments on contemporary Japanese society.

These themes are huge and wide-ranging and what is written in this small article is merely the tip of the ice berg. Indeed to comment about such an expansive subject would take a university thesis to do so adequately. However during the course of the article I am going to concentrate in one theme that is a constant within Japanimation: Technology.

Claudia Springer (author of ‘Electronic Eros’) believes that the Japanese (males in particular) are infatuated by technology coining the term “technoerotism”. This infatuation with technology makes it one of the leading countries for hi-tech industries. Indeed it could be said that it was this infatuation which lead to the success of manga. After all with greater employment results in a bigger salary which produces a better consumer. Indeed it was this economic miracle which paved way for Japan’s current consumerist society and as such suffers from excesses of that materialism. Japanese society, and specifically its cyberpunk, relates to this.

In fact, ’Akira’ is the perfect exemplar of this and manifests the excesses of materialism in the whole city of Neo-Tokyo which is built on greedy and selfish materialistic desire. Nezu is perhaps the character we would associate with the phrase ‘power corrupts’. Indeed with power usually comes money, to this end money corrupts also. In many ways Nezu is one of many who represent within ‘Akira’ the whole idea of this city and society in general being extremely materialistic. After all when Nezu attempts to escape he kills his staff! This is not the sign of an altruistic philanthropist, rather a demonstration of one’s corruption by a society in which there is no hope but money. He dies soon afterwards of a heart attack, and while not a common death in Japan, is in many ways in the death of the materialist, considering that 20% of the world’s population has access to 80% of the world’s resources!

In ‘Serial Experiments Lain’, Eiri states that humanity is a nonentity and “do not know what it is that drives them, they keep their bodies merely to satisfy the flesh”. Eiri’s view is that technology is the answer. It is the answer to all man’s problems after all it will allow humanity to evolve into something that is, from Eiri’s perspective, a far better form of life than humanity is currently. (That is for humanity to transcend the ‘Real World’ and escape into the ‘Wired’ through the use of Protocol 7.)

Another theme intertwined within Japanese science fiction is the communication and the impact of technology upon that link. ‘Serial Experiments Lain’ is by its very nature a story exploring communication. Lain herself is an extremely quiet and reserved character with only one true friend. It is our protagonist then who would go to greater lengths to understand the depths of communication far better than any of her friends ever could.

The ‘King’ of anime concerning this type of link has to be ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’. Ultimately the story, according to the series, reaches its conclusion when Shinji Ikari makes a decision about whether he wishes humanity to evolve or to remain as they are. Indeed Human Instrumentality is the unification of every human on the planet together as one. (This is of course far too simplistic! It would indeed be another thesis!) This ties in with another thread of Japanese science fiction, that communication and human evolution are linked together by technology because it is through technology that we evolve and grow.

To explore the ‘technophobia’, the opposite to the “Technoerotism experienced by the Knights and the people of 2015, would now take a trip far into the future rather than just to the 2015 of ‘Neon Genesis Evangelion’. Indeed ‘Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind’ is set a thousand years following the ‘Seven Days of Fire’. This is Miyazaki’s underrated piece that merely gets the attention it deserves by being a Ghibli film. This story can be said to be a return to nature and the conservative values associated with traditional Japan.

Miyazaki offers a story that accentuates the main protagonists being without technology rather than ‘enslaved’ to it through “technoerotism”. Indeed it can be said that those of the Valley of the Wind are depicted as being much more ‘at one with nature’. These people are ideally what Miyazaki would like to see Japan return to, at least in terms of today’s morality.

Indeed Nausicaä is a very unrealistic vision of a young woman today. Chihiro is by far a character that matches what Miyazaki observes as not conforming to a ‘good morality’. She is very puerile. Conversely, at the culmination of ‘Spirited Away’ it is Chihiro who is a very mature young woman and compared with her parents (who are turned into pigs, much like ‘Porco Rosso’!, where the imagery utilised is representative of greed.): she is the greater of the three. This is Miyazaki’s quintessential contemporary Japanese girl.

The people of The Valley of the Wind are the embodiment of Miyazaki’s Japanese ideal: virtuous, brave, kind and one with nature. Alternatively their neighbours and masters are autocratic imperialists set on world domination at any cost! They use a combination of sadistic tactics and technology in spite of the fact that that is the reason why their world as it exists subsists.

In this case Japanese science fiction melds the ecological with the technological to synthesise a story about being more environmentally friendly and a return to traditional values. However this kind of story set in the Sea of Corruption is in itself the opposite to the likes of Knights in ‘Serial Experiments Lain’ and humanity in 2015. This is perhaps the vent for this type of ‘Star Trek’ science fiction where a critique, and often criticism, of modern society is voiced in a futuristic setting.

Individuals, like Nausicaä, have shaped the essence of anime. During the course of this essay there have been mentioned various characters of Lain, Shinji, Nausicaä, Chihiro, Nezu and Eiri. All of these have personified a certain point of view. However some have an extraordinarily large amount layers to their characterisation. Indeed Lain is the interface in ‘Serial Experiments Lain’ and is used to allow the viewer to be able to peel away the story as it becomes ever more complex with every layer the viewer peels off.

So in conclusion, Japanese science fiction is a mixture of social commentary and exploration and the question of Japan becoming more westernised and more technologically advanced or whether it should return to a more traditional past. Add into this mixture the issue of communication and whether technology adversely affects this by exacerbating materialism, consumerism and capitalism.

This is merely the top of the tip of the ice berg. If you have anything to say about Japanese science fiction please feel free to elaborate, if you have any criticism for this piece please also write in. I’d love to have your feedback!

After a couple months off from writing, I guess its time to return to this time consuming hobby. As you may have notice activity on Nakama has trickled to a halt, I guess the main reason is everyone is busy living their lives. I was the same, and unfortunately writing sat on the back burner. Now things are going again, we have a full schedule until the end of June so more posts ahoy!

I’m going to be a little bit selfish today, and this post really isn’t anything special. Over the next month or two you’ll start seeing more and more manga reviews appearing on AUKN. There’s a sparkling new section and we’ve brought more writers onto the team.

This leads me onto this post. Over the next couple of months I’ll be reviewing a 17 volume series of manga, and I’m excited to rise to the challenge, but over the past couple of days I’ve been thinking about the format of the reviews and the writing style I have. I realized its going to be bloody hard.

With an anime series there is a smorgasbord of topics that you can write about. You can cover things such as the quality of animation, the voice actors, how well its adapted from the manga, the musical score, the list goes on and on. The problem with manga is that while it shares some characteristics of its anime counterpart, it requires on imagination and thought from the reader, something that varies from person to person.

The reviews will be easy, you just read the book and then think about it. The trouble is, how do you get those thoughts down onto paper without repeating yourself over and pointing out the good and bad. My biggest problem with manga is not so much the look and style, but the lack of backline detail. In books you get lovely paragraphs describing the buildup to the scene, in anime there is the musical score in the background, slowly gathering pace to sucker you in. But in manga it’s just slap, bang, wallop, there you go.

Don’t get me wrong, I love manga and I enjoy every minute I spend with a right to left story. But I guess it’s the western, grown up in me that still thinks “it’s a comic, exactly how much detail and depth can there be” but surely enough, the child In me comes along and reminds me that manga is a fantastic medium and I should just let my imagination go nuts.

If you see someone that can write a review on manga, and do it well. Tip your hat. Because its not easy.

A few months ago, I was sat in my living room with my sister and my mother, a typical lazy winter evening. They were watching some terrible reality-tv show, whilst I was minding my own business, engrossed in a volume of Death Note.

‘What are you doing?’ enquired my Mum. I explained that I was reading a Japanese comic book. ‘Oh right’, she said, ‘What is it? What’s it called?’. I told her what the series was called. ‘Ooooh, that doesn’t sound very nice!’ she exclaimed. I explained that, yes, it’s not very nice, that the Death Note is a notebook which has the power to kill a person whose name is written within its pages.

My sister chipped in. ‘That’s horrible! Why couldn’t it be a notebook where, you write someone’s name, and they, I don’t know.……..get a present?’.

This got me thinking about a number of things. Firstly, I thought about how my Mum and my sister really don’t understand manga! But they did have a point. Death Note is an awesome series, and one that I truly love. But it is, in many ways, a grim tale. The amount of deaths within the series is vast. If you had to put a number on it, it would be incomprehensible, simply too large to calculate or to imagine. I had never really thought about it before, but the scale of murders in Death Note is truly shocking. Light is, essentially, a serial killer on a gargantuan scale. So why had I not realised it before? Why was I, right up until the final pages, ‘rooting for’ Light?

I tried to explain to my family. No, you don’t understand, I said, he’s only using it for good, he’s trying to create a better world. But they weren’t convinced, and, as I was trying to justify Light’s actions, I realised I sounded like a bit of a lunatic myself! I had been sucked in by Light. I believed his rhetoric. I was a Kira-worshipper! I believed that Light had to do these things in order to create a new, safer world. But then, for the first time, I started to question Light. Did he really have to do it that way? Was there another way that didn’t involve such grisly means?

I wondered, what would Light have done about the state of the world if he had not found the notebook? Would he have joined the police and tried to change the world that way, by capturing as many criminals as he could, and trying to prevent crime? Yes, he probably would. But what if he still found a special notebook, but it was a completely different one. My sister wanted to use it for gift-giving. Could that have changed the world? Could Light have given presents to criminals, thus making them happy and grateful, and thus giving them the desire to reform? Well, probably not, that’s a fanciful and unrealistic idea (even for manga!).

Or how about this – the notebook could be used for anything the user wishes, EXCEPT killing. Instead of being an ‘evil’ notebook, it was, in some way, an inherently ‘good’ notebook. Would Light have still tried to change the world, but somehow trying to do it through good deeds? Was there another way for Light to achieve what he wanted? There is no right or wrong answer to this. I’m just trying to ask an interesting question about the nature of Light’s character. My own belief is that, Light was a twisted megalomaniac, a flawed genius. Although I did ‘support’ him, he was pretty much a would-be despot. I think the crucial thing to remember is that he wasn’t just interested in creating a new world, he wanted himself to reign over that world. I think that he and the Death Note were made for each other.

It has been a few months since the last pulse of life on Nakama Britannica and while I’d love to say we have a compelling excuse for this hiatus, the truth is a tad more conventional. We needed a break to recharge (or, at least, I did) and since then, there have been a few changes too; little tweaks here and there (like avatars) to better suit our identity as a group blog. For us, it was always a matter of when (not if) we would return, but of course, you didn’t know that, so, if you did manage to stick with us through all this time, here is an honest ‘thank you’ on behalf of all at Nakama Britannica. Now, without any further rambling, the show must go on. With more rambling.

As an anime fan, it’s not often that I say this, but lately, I’ve been watching a lot of live action US TV. My current favourite is The Wire, and at the moment, I’d much rather watch that than, say, Macross Frontier, Soul Eater or Code Geass. The funny thing is, four, maybe even five, years ago; my opinion was almost polar opposite. I was absolutely sick of US TV and about ready to claim anime as God’s own genre. During that era, I’d watch almost anything; Gainax’s mind-numbingly average This Ugly Yet Beautiful World remains probably the worst anime I’ve actually sat through from beginning ’til end. What a waste of time.

When I said as much on my other blog earlier this week, Cameron (of In Search of Number Nine) responded with an interesting opinion. He seems to enjoy a lot of anime because it offers serial storytelling. More than anything else, that’s what attracted me too. Hell, that’s the only way I can justify dragging myself through all 276 episodes of Dragonball Z. After a few episodes, I had bonded with Goku et all and that was that; I was absolutely determined to follow them on their journeys across the universe. Even in that relatively simplistic story, seeing those characters grow old and change over time had such a profound effect on me; I really felt as if I knew them; as if I understood their feelings. Since then, I’ve seen a lot of anime (much of which is better than Dragonball Z) but my dearest favourites (like Berserk, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann and Honey and Clover) all share this intimate romance with time and the way that time shapes relationships and personality.

During this era, previously-lacking US TV schedules have undergone something of a renaissance. Lost, Heroes, The Sopranos, Battlestar Galactica and The Wire are all serial TV shows that regularly offer emotive character development and season-long story-arcs. It’s not that I don’t need anime any more, but rather than wasting brain -cells on a story that’s so offensively mediocre, like This Ugly Yet Beautiful World, I can enjoy an episode of something far superior, like Battlestar Galactica, instead. There’s a lot to be said for looking at real human characters too, as opposed to 2D animated ones.

At this point, escapism might become a problem. Cameron points out that he can’t really ‘get into’ a live action story, and more importantly, can’t feel much for the characters when their situations seem so fake. He doesn’t (or doesn’t want to) believe that Nathan Petrelli can fly, but he wouldn’t be feeling that way if Heroes had been “just a cartoon” instead. If you subvert this, could we better relate (on an emotional level) to an ultra-realistic anime movie like Grave of the Fireflies, or the creations of Satoshi Kon, if they were live action rather an anime? Why are they even animated in the first place?

Taking note of the fact that our blogospherants had yet to handle the pressing issue of the day - that of the seeming crash of the modern anime market - I of course have to take it up myself.

Being quite a paranoiac topic, however, the majority of commentators are just stabbing at shadows; and often that of the wider global recession. Personally, I don’t think it helps the majority of anime fans to look at the current state of the anime markets in terms of global or local recession, since experience (or what little I have of it) has taught me that economics, at least in terms of how it is handled today, is more akin to philosophy than a science. Fill a room with ten veteran economists, and they’ll each give different projections of what will happen in the future, and different recommendations as to what should be done.

What does this mean for anime? Only that any comments about seasonal recessions or anime companies having to tighten their belts might be premature, or rational, but ultimately speculative guesses. The spectre of recession looms over even the most successful companies, and will have contributed to the recent fall in the newly revived Nintendo’s shares, but this only illustrates my point. A small drop in Nintendo’s shares will only be a patch on its recent success, and in the same way, any company or market can survive or even improve its condition through recession, while industry insiders on our main sites forum have already pointed out that the industry has survived recessions before.

They’re not favourable circumstances - as we all know - but that does bring me to the point that I had hoped to explore all along. I’m no economist, so my interest lies in the times themselves, and not their management. In the midst of boom and bust, there have always been golden ages, and my thoughts have recently been drifting toward that of the anime industry. So I’ve been wondering what you the readers consider to have been the golden age[s] of anime, and what made them such?

For me, the real golden age seems to have passed a little while ago, beginning roughly with the first Ghost in the Shell (1995) and followed by Neon Genesis Evangelion (1996), ending also roughly with Full Metal Alchemist (2003). In the space of these eight years, we see not only these three classics, but Cowboy Bebop (1998), the rise of Makoto Shinkai in Voices of a Distant Star (2000) and among the greatest entries into the Ghibli library, including Princess Mononoke (1997) and Spirited Away (2001), as well as hundreds of lesser, but still enjoyable series (Excel Saga, FLCL etc.). If we assume that booms and busts are seasonal, as most economists seem all too willing to believe at the moment, then so too, if it is any comfort, are such golden ages.

Looking toward the horizon, we can’t predict what will be good or successful with too much accuracy - or what will befall us in artistic and economic circles, so as far we know, the next golden age is right around the corner. I hope that will be the case, and wish all the companies in the industry the best of luck during these harsh times.

Pumpkin Scissors Vol. 1 Ryotaro Iwanaga OT Ages 16+
 
“This book does not contain and is not based on historical facts. Please also note that standard military facts and concepts do not apply, either.’

In the aftermath of a protracted war between the Empire and the Republic of Frost that in some ways resembles World War I, the motley little crew of soldiers (and their dog Mercury, Corporal Private 1st Class, soon to be demoted to Courier) that make up ‘Pumpkin Scissors’ (Imperial Army State Section III) struggle to help the people rebuild their lives. It’s three years since the cease-fire, however, and the Empire is still terrorized by bands of former soldiers.

In command is 2nd Lieutenant Alice L. Malvin: young, idealistic, yet incredibly stubborn when she’s determined to get her own way. Alice’s unit find themselves pitted against Grey Wolf, a group of ex-soldiers still in possession of a tank, who are hiding out in a dam and terrorising the local villagers. Things look bad for Pumpkin Scissors until a scarred giant of a man, Randel Oland, comes to their aid. It turns out that Grey Wolf were Chemical Tactic Troopers who have used Kirche-3, a delayed reaction chemical weapon on the villagers. Pumpkin Scissors have a short time to get the antidote from Grey Wolf or the victims will die. It’s only when they’re being fired on by the tank that Oland brings out his mysterious blue lamp and his true identity is revealed. He is a Gespenter Jager, Ghost Hunter or Deathmarch Trooper, one of those ‘who march among the midnight glow’. The implication here (and more will doubtless be revealed as future volumes are translated) is that Oland and others have  been secretly altered during the war to make them into human fighting machines. Alice and Oland seem to understand each other and the taciturn giant is made a  corporal in her unit. But it’s not long before they’re called to the estate of a viscount who’s been hunting down humans for fun – with a tank. Trapped, Alice is forced to reveal that she is one of the thirteen noble families as she tries to encourage the viscount’s servants to rebel against their master and stop his bloodthirsty games.

Fans of ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ may find some echoes of Colonel Roy Mustang’s squad (there’s even a dog!). The nice little touches of humour that alleviate the grimmer moments also bring FMA to mind, especially when Pumpkin Scissors attempt to look after an abandoned baby. The growing understanding between Alice and her laconic new corporal Oland hints at interesting developments to come. Well-told, with sympathetic, quirky characters and an intriguing premise, ‘Pumpkin Scissors’ is the stand-out for me of Del Rey’s recent list. And there’s the anime version on R1 to enjoy as well; although sadly, for us R2 viewers, it’s one of the new ADV series that’s just been announced as on hiatus before it’s even begun!

Hell Girl Vol. 1: drawn by Miyuki Eto, based on an original story by The Jigoku Shoujo Project Ages 16+
“Hell does exist.”

Imagine you’re being blackmailed by one of your school fellows. Imagine you hear of a mysterious website that appears only at midnight which promises that the Hell Girl will care of your problem once and for all. Imagine you’re so desperate that you type in the name of your persecutor… 

“To curse someone is to dig a double grave,” warns the beautiful, cold-eyed girl who arrives to fulfil your request. She is Ai Enma, Hell Girl. “If you want to take revenge you have to pay with your own soul.”

In each of the five tales that make up the first volume of Hell Girl, someone is being victimized. In Chapter 4, Junko’s beloved dog Lucky falls sick. Lucky dies in the care of the vet who has promised to care for him and Junko is distraught when the practice nurse tells her that the vet only treats the really profitable cases, neglecting the other animals in the surgery. After she uses Hell Girl’s website, the vet suffers an unpleasant fate and is last seen being ferried away on a boat by Ai Enma to hell.
 
The first volume of ‘Hell Girl’ has been released at roughly the same time as the R1 anime series from FUNimation. Each chapter follows the same formula, even down to the exact words pronounced by Hell Girl. Whether this format may evolve and change in subsequent volumes is hard to tell. There’s no hope of redemption here for the persecutors; they suffer a horrible fate for their crime, yet, as we already know, their victim’s soul is also destined for eternal punishment. The moral thus seems to be: put up with it – or condemn your immortal soul to eternal damnation! 

Ventura Vol. 1 by Shino Midorikawa Ages 13+

Although it has been compared to Harry Potter, (well, it is set in a school for wizards and wizard-swordsmen) ‘Ventura’ feels more like a traditional sword and sorcery tale – and is none the worse for that! Red-haired Lewin Randit dreams of being a wizard but has to put up with being trained as a swordsman at the Gaius School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It doesn’t help matters that his classmates give him a hard time; easily provoked, Lewin is always getting into trouble. However, it seems that Lewin may not be as useless at magic as he believes – even though it can prove to be  much more complex and dangerous than he has ever imagined. But when Lewin and two friends infiltrate the preparation room, they unwittingly unleash a deadly force trapped inside that endangers the whole school.

Midorikawa’s wispy and intricately detailed character drawings are distinctive and attractive, giving ‘Ventura’ a genuinely different look from many of the other fantasy manga stories around. It’s important to pay great attention to the text and dialogue; many significant nuggets of information are revealed, but not always at moments when they could move the story along in a meaningful way. In fact I had to read this first volume twice to make sense of the unravelling plot strands. Again, a most promising start to a genuinely different series that should appeal to CLAMP readers as well as sword and sorcery fans.

‘Dragon Eye’ by Kairi Fujiyama Ages 13+

Readers looking for a good shonen adventure can’t go wrong with ‘Dragon Eye’ by Kairi Fujiyama, which has recently reached Volume 3. Deadly viruses decimating mankind is a favourite theme of recent manga and anime series and in ‘Dragon Eye’ the ‘D Virus’ turns its victims into ‘bloodthirsty monsters’ called Dracules. Young Leila Mikami, whose parents were killed by a Dracule, sets out to join VIUS, teams of elite warriors who have very strong antibodies against the virus and are sent out to destroy the deadly Dracules.

‘Dragon Eye’ looks at first glance like a typical shonen, a little reminiscent of ‘D. Gray-Man’ (which is no bad thing), bursting with fights, warrior codes, and monsters. But a well-told, complex and involving story unfolds as Leila and the other new recruits are rescued from a deadly Dracule attack by a feisty blue-haired boy called Issa Kazuma. His secret is the Dragon Eye in his forehead, which lends him tremendous power whilst at the same time slowly destroying all that is human in his body. And, despite his youth, he’s the captain of Squad Zero to which Leila is assigned. Add in a third new squad member, Sosei Yukimura, out to exact revenge on Issa for killing his twin sister and an intriguing scenario is established, full of potential for future conflict. What is Issa’s secret? 

Del Rey manga are still by far the best when it comes to helpful notes, explanations of Japanese life and culture and the pitfalls of translating (especially when it comes to jokes and puns). Colour plates are often included at the front (a real bonus in the case of CLAMP artwork).The list started very strongly indeed with the two ongoing CLAMP crossover titles ‘Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle’ and ‘xxxHolic’. Other successes include Ken Akamatsu’s ‘Negima!’, historical ninja feud story ‘Basilisk’(seinen), Fuyumi Soryo’s ‘ES’ (josei) and Moyoco Anno’s charming yet gently subversive modern fairy tale ‘Sugar Sugar Rune’ (children of all ages!). And Oh! great’s subversive and manically brilliant ‘Air Gear’ is as crazy and inventive as ever.

However I have to confess that I’m not so thrilled by some of their more recent acquisitions: ‘Psycho Busters’ and ‘Shiki Tsukai’ are distinctly underwhelming so far and ‘Pastel’ and ‘Gacha Gacha Revolution’ are yawningly predictable in the ‘teen boy sees/squeezes/accidentally falls against teen girl’s boobies’ department. With so many titles like these in the list, it would be good to see a yaoi and/or yuri title or two. Thank goodness the dreary (and confusing) mermaid saga ‘Pichi Pichi Pitch’ has finished at last (without colour it was almost impossible to tell one mermaid from another), although ninja teen romcom ‘Kagetora’ lumbers on. Sf thriller ‘Alive’ and the classic horror ‘Parasyte’ are much stronger contenders. Shojo magical tale ‘Shugo Chara’ from Peach-pit is currently being made into an anime and the genuinely funny high school ‘School Rumble’ is still going strong. So I’m hoping for more titles of the quality and range of ‘Mushishi’ and ‘xxxHolic’ as the list continues to evolve and expand, making a strong start to 2008, overall, with much to look forward to later in the year.

The rock duo Monoral, consisting of Anis Shimada and Ali Morizumi, have two EPs and two full-length albums under their belts but I first heard their music, as quite a few others no doubt did, through their single Kiri, the song used in the opening theme to Ergo Proxy. This is featured on the second of their LPs, 2007’s Turbulence.

It’s testament to the soaring Kiri (not to mention my impulsive music purchasing habits) that I went ahead and ordered the entire album based on my impressions of that song alone; fortunately the rest of the material on offer is of a consistently high quality. It’s worth noting that all the lyrics are performed in English - a fact explained by Anis and Ali being fluent in both this and Japanese. This means that not only are the songs somewhat more accessible to overseas fans than other similar J-rock bands but it also gives the music a distinctly American flavour. Indeed, the best way I can describe the album’s sound as a whole is ‘grungy’ - there are elements reminiscent of Stateside alt-rock and similarly influenced artists that followed in the intervening years.

That is not to say that Anis and Ali should be dismissed as a couple of Japanese guys who wish that they were from Seattle though. The combination of distorted guitars and Anis’ throaty vocal style owe much to the likes of Pearl Jam and Soundgarden but there’s no escaping the fact that Monoral have a keen and unique ear as to what makes a good rock tune, and they have no shortage of technical ability either. There are numerous catchy hooks and energetic riffs in the twelve tracks on offer here but unlike the output from many of their American and European contemporaries, Turbulence has less of the angst and pent-up aggression, with a more laid-back, calculated and - dare I say it - radio-friendly feel. For sure, there are rasping fuzz-guitar power chords and a chugging beat in Perfect Gold and chaotic drumming in Visions in my Head but even the towering stadium-sized intro and refrain of Vimana and Muse-esque segments of Sparta are more concerned with melody than guitar-smashing rebelliousness.

From the raucous opener Pocketful of Joy to the closing track Session 9 it’s evident that Anis and Ali know where to place the emphasis in their music and where to show restraint; the arrangements carry plenty of heart and soul, conveying feelings convincingly without trying the listener’s patience. There’s a balanced mixture of faster and slower numbers too, and the recording side of things sounds polished without feeling over-produced. While the overseas image of Japanese popular music (be it justified or not) may be that of saccharine commercial pop and the theatrical goth-inspired metal of visual kei, Turbulence is an album that stays within its own genre boundaries but keeps its credibility intact when compared with mainstream fare.

It is perhaps this mature approach to songwriting that makes the album such a refreshing experience: the aforementioned Kiri, soulful ballad Monkey Cage and the instrumental title track evoke feelings of yearning and introspection that are often absent from the more well-known bands that those of us here in the UK and the US are familiar with. It’s easy to compare, say, Tuesday with early Foo Fighters, or Anis’ impressive vocal range from croon to wailing howl with Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell but to do so would be doing a disservice to all concerned; this album displays Monoral’s unique take on the all-too familiar guitar rock formula. It expresses a sense of confidence and sophistication that many new bands today are missing - if you’re looking for an alternative to the samey indie and nu-metal offerings around these days, this is worth the import.

Track listing

1. Pocketful of Joy
2. Sparta
3. Vimana
4. Monkey Cage
5. Tuesday
6. Visions in my Head
7. Perfect Gold
8. Kiri
9. Pompadour
10. Shenanigans
11. Turbulence
12. Session 9

Warning: Spoilers below

As if heroes and villains were so straight forward, if only the world was black and white. Anyone who reads comic books will know that a hero’s path is never a simple one. When I first watched Death Note, I always thought of Light as the villain of the story. Light is our narrator in to the crime ridden world in Death Note. In traditional storytelling, it is often the hero who narrates the story, but here much to my surprise, it’s the villain who tells the story.

Death Note is one of those anime’s where you can’t sit on the fence, you have to pick a side. Some see Light as a hero, other’s as a villain, it all really depends on your point of view. I’ve seen a lot of anime but Death Note is one of those anime’s that kept me at the very edge of my seat. Never have I loved and hated the villain of a story so much. Every time L got closer, I kept wishing Light didn’t get caught, and every time Light killed I wished justice would prevail. This is the only anime that I have ever seen that has made me switch sides so many times. That is the power of Death Note.

I’m currently reading the manga and it’s nearly impossible to put down. The artwork reminds me of film noir. When Light meets Ryuk, I was surprised to see so many names were already written in the notebook, I remember being shocked. Somewhere at the back of my mind, I wanted to believe that he’s just a good kid really. A part of me didn’t really want to accept Light for what he really was – a serial killer.

Many people gave up on Death Note after L’s death, but for me, already addicted, I had to continue. Light ends up believing his own ideology, that he is a god of this new world, claiming he is doing what others are afraid to do. But if you go back to the beginning you realise all this started due to boredom. Ryuk, the Shinigami in an endless existence. Light the straight laced high school student bored out of his mind.

The most tantalizing question that Death Note left me with was: what happens next? Thinking back on it, Light had created a world with no war, and not even any government has ever done that. So what would a world without Light look like? I imagine crime would once again rise, society would resume and the world that Near would find himself in wouldn’t be that much different from our own. Somewhere along the way, many months after I watched the ending, I somehow came to the conclusion that perhaps Light really was the hero of the story after all. Was it wrong to want to create a better world?

For Light to really change the world, he couldn’t play by society’s rules, in essence, Light had to become the bad guy if he was to do any good. Was there any humanity in Light? It’s hard to tell. Just as he could dupe the other characters, he also worked his spell on me. When I saw the ending, I just knew that I was watching something special. I’m not sure if we’ll ever see another anime this compelling again, but Death Note is an example of what a good anime can really do.