Choco Mimi Book 2

Choco Mimi Book 2
Buy this book

by Konami Sonoda
Viz, $7.99 US

The fun of the first volume continues with more four-panel comic strips about fashion, friendship, and young love. There are also album and scrapbook pages featuring “pictures” of the characters and their pets that are very realistic in feel, as though a 14-year-old really put them together, plus longer stories with the same characters. An early one is surprisingly thought-provoking, with a flower symbolizing love and the characters discussing their different approaches to the subject.

Others are silly takes on topics like going to the beach or working in a cafe or putting on costumes to scare each other. School activities and holiday celebrations also feature. It’s a light read, but the cute kids and darling art style are appealing, and I enjoy being part of their world for a while, where there aren’t many things to worry about beyond looking good and the attention of the boy you like. It’s also got a surprising amount of content — I spent longer reading this than I do many other shojo volumes, both due to the page structure and wanting to notice the details of the characters’ outfits. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

The Lapis Lazuli Crown Book 2

The Lapis Lazuli Crown Book 2
Buy this book

by Natsuna Kawase
CMX Manga, $9.99 US

Miel Violette found her impulse to study magic and improve her skills in the first book: befriending an undercover prince. Here, in the second (and final) book of the series, we first see her back at school, working toward that goal. She aims to improve enough to work at the palace and thus get closer to Prince Radian.

Unfortunately, the prince is missing from the opening chapter, which has turned into a school story, following Miel and two of her friends as they study magic. I’m glad to see him back in the following chapter, where she’s met her goal, since his interaction with Miel is the best part of the book for me. I’m just not as interested in her classmates and their struggles with (for example) succeeding on merit instead of due to their family name.

The changes in direction and approach may be related to the short length of the series. It looks like the author was casting around for a successful path to follow and never quite got there. She alludes frequently in the many author’s notes about wanting to do more with various characters but running out of space to do so before the series end. There are also what look like the beginning of subplots that don’t have room to go anywhere. Perhaps the best way to describe this is “valiant but failed experiment”.

If this book sounds interesting to you, the core premise is explained early on, and the new setting is different enough that a reader who couldn’t find book one could start here with little trouble, although I found the first volume much more interesting. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

Yotsuba&! Book 6

Yotsuba&! Book 6
Buy this book

by Kiyohiko Azuma
Yen Press, $10.99 US

The beloved series returns from a new publisher (who thankfully has also brought the previous volumes back into print) with all its charm intact.

The stories here fall into the category of “what it’s like to live with a young child” — they see the world differently. Everything’s new to them, yet they also start forming their own conclusions about the way things work. The result is creative comedy that rings adorably true. In this volume, Yotsuba discovers recycling, bicycling, office work (which consists of her labeling everything in the house), and playing milkman.

Sound effects (of which there are many) aren’t translated here; instead, the English sound and meaning are both written into the panel next to the Japanese symbol. I found this cluttered the page and distracted my eye from following the characters. Add in the translation notes put in the gutters between panels, and sometimes, there was just too much to look at. Especially when they kept reprinting the same note every time a labeled object appears, which I found unnecessary. I was also distracted by how often Yotsuba’s speech is bolded — I know she’s supposed to be frequently excited, but I soon lost that awareness in annoyance at the technique.

But those are minor points. The artist’s sense of motion and movement is wonderful. Yotsuba feels right, in all her actions and expressions. I appreciate her dad’s patience with her, even though you can tell it can be a struggle (as when, for example, she’s doing gymnastics on top of him). It’s her lack of self-censorship that makes her such a joy to read. The neighbor girl egging her on helps with the comedy, too.

I don’t know that I would have handed her a power tool, as Dad does when they build a bookcase, but that I was concerned for her welfare indicates how much I was lost in her world.

Here’s another review by Brigid at MangaBlog. If you’re interested in differences between the two publisher versions, here’s a visual comparison, criticism of the translation decisions, and an interview with Yen about their choices.

Aria Book 5
Buy this book

The series had some unexpected delays, but that means it’s timely — Akari, the apprentice gondolier (undine), is beginning her second autumn on the water planet, just as fall has firmly fallen here in the U.S.

The opening story (the book has five) is a wonderful stand-alone that sums up much of the series’ appeal. A mailman’s gondola is gone for repairs, so Akari volunteers to take him on his route through the Venice-like setting. By the end, she (and we) have learned more about her town, the way communication ties together community, and the pleasure of writing letters on paper. A more subtle message involves the skills and contributions of older workers being valuable and how they can teach the younger through example.

The art focuses on Akari’s happy, open face, and those of her friends (who can be a little more negative or concerned, providing spice and contrast). Plenty of beautiful, Italian-influenced architecture is drawn with care. It’s a wonderful world to sink into and relax with.

There’s also humor. At one point, Alice gets a bee in her bonnet about needing to train herself to be more ambidextrous since she thinks her right hand is doing all the work. But while that is somewhat silly, there’s another component of the same story that has a touching undertone, a lesson Alice learns from her singing roommate and a parable about seemingly unnoticed contributions.

A story about watching a meteor shower is one of many in the series that promote natural awareness and wonder. It also brings back Al the Gnome, a thoughtful boy who resembles Harry Potter. Another has Akira, a tough instructor who helps the younger girls improve their craft. The last is a quiet story about waiting, as Akari spends the day at a cafe learning a lesson about relaxing that I will also benefit from.

My quibbles, there are three: I was sad that two different sections introducing characters, obviously created in color, were reproduced in black and white. Also, while there’s a lengthy introduction of the premise, the character page omits the youngest undine, Alice, who features prominently in one story and significantly in two more. I found that an unfortunate omission, given how close her name is to Alicia, Akari’s mentor, and thus confusing. Last, the usage of goofy exclamations like “Holy Guacamole” or “Holy Baloney” really doesn’t suit the timeless feel of the series. The adaptation credit has changed from the previous book, so maybe the new writer needs a little more time to fully grasp the style of the stories. (The publisher provided a review copy.)

INVU Book 5
Buy this book

Goodness knows that the story isn’t worth six years of patience. The events are stereotypical soap opera, and the characters are types instead of three-dimensional. There’s the good girl who can’t cope with her crush on a more experienced boy, the troubled beauty in love with her teacher, and the wannabe model whose father bans her from his house for keeping her tryout a secret. Everyone “talks” in screaming matches or passionately dramatic declarations.

The art can be ridiculously exaggerated, and not in a reasonable way. Instead, perspective is off, so characters grow a foot among panels on a page or their head is too small for a too-long torso or their extended limbs would look better on a giraffe. The adaptation text is clunky as well, whether it’s bad grammar (”I had no idea it was one of your customer’s clothes!”) or just flat to the ear (”I was going to break the news like that!”).

So why am I still reading it? Well, at this point, why not? Between the two pages of story and character information and the familiarity of the plots, it’s easy enough to keep up with the series, even with the extensive delays between volumes. And it’s a relatively cheap fix, with only one book every few years.

Of more substance, I have a fondness for Hali and Hajun. She models as a way of escaping her mixed-up home life, where she has to pretend to be her dead brother in order to prevent her mother from going insane. (In this installment, that subterfuge quits working.) She’s good at it because most of her life has been spent pretending to be someone else.

She clings to her teacher as someone who cares for her as herself, and their feelings for each other still seem realer than anything else in the book. He knows something about her situation, since his family gave him away to be adopted by an important political figure. The obstacle between them, their age difference and his responsibility for her, will be taken care of relatively quickly just by waiting for her to graduate. They’re already ready for each other, unlike the other pairings, who are emotionally immature.

I also like Jae Eun, the fannish young lady who cosplays and draws yaoi, even though her conflicts are similar to those in Genshiken, where they’re more developed. I’d like to see more of her story, even though I know she’s comic relief, which is why the others take up much more space. She and her baker crush seem to have the best chance of actually succeeding together … but I think a later revelation may affect that.

(The publisher provided a review copy. INVU 5 will be released on November 3.)

Papillon Book 4
Buy this book

So when I read the second book, I was shocked to find that it went in a radically different direction, with a very different kind of drama: the kind you get with over-the-top soap opera and outrageous plot twists. Once it sunk in that I needed to reset my expectations, I could begin enjoying the way this story goes gloriously off the rails.

I mean, the first major piece of art in this book is a drawing of a girl kissing herself romantically with her eyes closed. Is one of the twins leaning into a mirror, thinking of her boyfriend? Or are the two sisters teasing at a closeness that will intrigue a certain group of readers? It doesn’t matter, because the situation in the story has little to do with the intriguing image. Instead, one of the twins is playing pretend with the other’s boyfriend, testing his fidelity with mind games. That’s the pattern of this series, continuing cycles of doubt and reassurance as girls worry about their boyfriends’ loyalty.

The reader is tricked, the character relationships are continually complicated, and no one should think too hard about any of this. If you did, you might notice that the advice given to one lovestruck girl boils down to “if you liked him enough to want to date him, you should be happy with that and not dare to ask him to change in any way.” Instead, she should change herself to better match him.

That’s not the only creepy thing: The core relationship is a romance between a student and her guidance counselor, a man who’s attracted to her, among other reasons, because she’s a virgin. (Assuming you can trust his statements. I’m never sure any more with any of these characters if they’re being honest about what they think or even who they are.)

Everyone here just wants to be happy. The complications come in the twisted things they do to get there. Another example of only-in-fiction exaggeration is the plot device that sets up the twists in the second half of the book, driven by a girl who can smell when someone’s had sex. This starts out being barely plausible but quickly turns into another way to make characters believe others are cheating. Everyone’s miserable until an even more ridiculous hand-wave resets things… before the next authorial device to mess with these fictional lives comes along.

Most of the time, I prefer more depth and emotional realism in my schoolgirl shojo soap opera, but that’s asking more of this series than it wants to provide. As emotion-plucking entertainment populated by pretty people, that encourages you to feel, not think, it’s popcorn. But sometimes, that’s what you’re in the mood for.

(The publisher provided a review copy.)

Nana is a normal human girl who is friends with Majoko, a witch of the same age from the Land of Magic. A magic diary serves as the portal between the two worlds. The girls have lots of adventures together in the Land of Magic. This volume opens with the conclusion to the cliffhanger from volume 1. Further adventures in this book include helping an old clay pot find a beloved owner, attending the Snowman Festival, searching for the runaway Mirror Fairy in the Land of Mirrors, and a visit to the Land of Toys. All of the chapters but the first are self-contained stories.

The Big Adventures of Majoko Book 2
Buy this book

This second volume is just as delightful as the first. Majoko continues to be impulsive and overly confident. The authors are careful to make her a likeable character by showing how her faults come from youthfulness. I love that she understands how special and unusual the Land of Magic is and is filled with enthusiasm and curiosity. I do worry that Majoko seems to be have a very slow learning curve. I’m hoping as the series continues that she will begin to mature. Perhaps some of Nana’s own maturity will rub off on Majoko.

There were two chapters I found particularly heartwarming. The first is when Majoko and Nana help an old piece of magical pottery find an owner he got separated from years ago. The years have not been kind to the pot. Yet, when he is reunited with his old owner, she immediately welcomes him and showers him with affection regardless of his appearance. It’s a wonderful lesson on the true worth of each person.

The second chapter I found moving is when Nana’s mother accidently throws out her favorite doll, Katie. Nana and Majoko travel to the Land of Toys to find the doll. They find out how bitter abandoned and abused toys feel. They also discover the power of love. Katie is able to use all the love Nana has given her over the years to reform one of the abandoned toys, making him happy and emotionally whole. It’s a touching lesson on treating our possessions with respect.

The page layouts are simple and easy for young readers to follow. The drawings are a little simpler than the standard manga, but they don’t lack details. There is lots of energy to the artwork to keep young readers engaged in the book. One nice extra with this book is a two-page guide on how to read unflipped manga. Not just how to read a page, but even how to read the balloons within a panel. I really like having this in the book, so it’s right there if young readers get confused.

Udon does make one small misstep. The inside back cover tells readers, “For more cool stuff, games, and free previews, visit MangaforKids.com.” However, the only thing currently on the website is free previews. I hope they correct this soon. I hate for them to disappoint young, excited readers who are looking for ways to have more fun with the books and characters.

I still think The Big Adventures of Majoko is a great series for both sexes, though I realize that boys are much less likely to read a series with two girl protagonists. The stories are short and quick-paced. There is plenty of humor to keep things entertaining and from getting too serious. It’s a great series for introducing kids to manga. Parents will enjoy the books, too. I’m glad to see Udon continue it’s commitment to quality manga for younger readers.

(The publisher provided a review copy.)

Karakuri Odette Book 1
Buy this book

(Her professor, on the other hand, appears to have given up on normalcy. He looks like a teen boy but wears a top hat, plaid jacket, and caped coat to meet with the principal.)

It’s a comedy, as indicated by early slapstick involving Odette not knowing her own strength. It’s also Pinocchio, only instead of being about the virtue of good deeds and clean living, it’s a charming portrayal of being a naive outsider, of valuing the simple things about life: eating lunch with school friends, playing hooky, caring about the feelings of others.

It’s like a shojo version of Yotsuba&!, only with less wacky humor, more gentle exploration of emotion. The usual conventions of the genre appear, such as a misunderstood guy known as a trouble-maker for getting into fights. He finds out Odette’s secret, and the two open up unexplored areas in each other. He can be nice to Odette without her having preconceptions about him that get in the way. She, meanwhile, is learning about infatuation, noting how her classmates’ heartbeats change as they mention the person they’re interested in.

The art feels different from what I expected. It doesn’t feature the kind of fan service I feared would be the case when I heard “girl robot”. It’s made up of thin lines, a little spiky — I’m vaguely reminded of Jules Feiffer’s work, although it’s a very remote relation. I like it. It’s sparse and emotion-focused.

The second story in the book is the most memorable. It’s a Christmas tale, with Odette wishing for someone to keep her company when the professor goes to a college reunion. A robot boy shows up unexpectedly. Although his motives are unpleasant, the way things evolve is quietly comforting. I particularly liked the touch of the two of them playing the game Life. (You know, with the little car with the people pegs.)

There’s also a chapter where another girl robot, Asia, comes to visit. She’s more practiced at being human, although her version is stereotypically girly and cute, and the contrast sheds some light on jealousy and expectations. The last story is a fascinating take on ghosts and taking care of others, as Odette finds a little boy no one else can see. I was impressed by how many different things was done with the concept in this volume, getting out of the typical school setting frequently.

Odette’s lack of external emotion is a refreshing change from the overheated expressiveness of much other shojo. It makes the moments of significant feeling that much more powerful. I look forward to reading more. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

The Manga Guide to Molecular Biology
Buy this book

The framing premise follows Ami and Rin, two college students about to flunk their molecular biology course because they never go to class. Their professor sends them to make-up classes on his private island (must be nice!), where they use a virtual reality machine to “travel” into the microscopic world.

(This island, which he refers to as his “real lab”, was built with “income from his inventions and patents.” Which is supposed to make him seem like a genius, I think, but had me wondering who he was skimming from. Rin asks, “Did he do it all on his own?”, a good question that never gets answered. I would think the assistant would be especially curious about how the professor answered that query.)

The two girls are a study in contrasts. Rin looks like she’s about to go clubbing, wearing shorts and ankle-strap heels. Ami looks like she goes to primary school instead of college; she’s short, with long blonde hair and little-girl dresses. Their guide is Marcus, the professor’s cute assistant, while the grumpy instructor mostly talks to them through computer screens. The students are frequently idiotic, which provides both the relief of humor to lighten the science and comfort to the reader, who cannot be as dumb as they are. The style varies from panel to panel, sometimes taking a scratchy, unpolished approach and other times anchored by heavy ink lines.

Some topics are necessarily simplified to increase understanding, and the book only aims to cover the basics. Even so, there are lots of concepts and terms to take in. The chapters are:

1. What Is a Cell?
2. Proteins and DNA: Deciphering the Genetic Code
3. DNA Replication and Cell Division
4. How Is a Protein Made?
5. Genetic Technology and Research (a glimpse at the future, in mostly text format)

The visual format allows for lots of images and diagrams to clarify and illustrate the instructional points, and the virtual reality concept means we’re seeing cells and their contents close up. Also, plenty of metaphors are used to compare the processes to things readers might be more used to, as when a gene is referred to as a protein blueprint or a “nuclear localization signal” is called a “ticket to the nucleus” or cancer cells are treated as gang members, disrupting the cell society. Some of the comparisons are wonderfully silly, as when they explore how the liver processes alcohol as a battle between Drinkzilla and Enzyme Man (with his dog sidekick). I wish that level of information had been used more often throughout the book; it got a little tiresome seeing line diagrams of amino acids to represent DNA and RNA, with little visual flair.

Typical of the series, text pages are interspersed to cover heavy concepts or elaborate in more detail. They’re often presented as conversations (or lectures) among the characters. Marcus’ explanations in a comfortable tone reassure both the characters and the reader that they can learn all this. He repeats key concepts when needed, or he even sets the virtual reality machine to “easy mode”, which makes the cartoon drawings very simple and friendly-looking.

There are preview pages available online. A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher, No Starch Press. Right now, they’re running a special offer: get all six of the Manga Guides for $75, or over a third off of cover price. That’s even better than Amazon’s 32% off!

I hope this isn’t the last in the series — no further volumes have yet been announced. Although I have quibbles about them, the Manga Guides remain entertaining supplementary reading for tough subjects.

Cause of My Teacher
Buy this book

Yet the student/teacher romance is a widespread manga convention, from the quaint past relationship of Maison Ikkoku to this new yaoi release. I find it a little off-putting, myself. After an opening page in which student Tohru rhapsodizes about how good his sensei Minazuki looks in glasses (to the point of it seeming like a fetish), we’re treated to the following explanation:

It didn’t take me long to realize that I was in love with my glasses-wearing teacher. Every day, my thoughts … would be filled with him. So I knew it must be love.

No, youngster, that’s obsession, possibly due to boredom. The plot of this first story is just as silly: Tohru wants Minazuki to kiss him with his glasses on, but the teacher always takes them off first. Tohru tries to break up after a misunderstanding (because no one can ever do the sensible thing and *talk* to each other, that’s not emotional or dramatic enough), but the teacher won’t let him, explaining that he removes his glasses because if he can see Tohru when they’re kissing, he’ll lose control. (How bad is this guy’s eyesight?)

The art is minimal (no backgrounds, few details) and not very good, especially when it comes to figure placement and anatomy. There are several more stories, although they’re so minimal, it might be better to call them “incidents”. Another features a similar setup of student/teacher interaction, but with different characters and a reversal of the dominant character. There’s also two co-workers coming home drunk. Then a set taking place in the past: two ninjas in love, a ninja who wants his master, a royal court member and bodyguard. A few pinups fill out the book.

The stories are all surprisingly short, with little to them beyond “and here’s how they get to the sex”: minimal characterization, very simple situations, little plot. This is a book aimed squarely at a core audience, one who shares these particular fantasies: guys with glasses, teachers, ninjas. For anyone else, it’s a waste of time.

Temari Matsumoto has also authored other books published in English by Tokyopop’s BLU yaoi imprint: The Loudest Whisper (2 volumes) and Just My Luck. A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher. An odd note: the book says that this is a first printing from March 2009, but the volume has only just this week gone on sale. Perhaps it was hung up while Tokyopop was adjusting its schedule and plans over the summer?

KimiKiss Book 2
Buy this book

Since this manga series is based on a dating sim game (that’s why the story is credited to a company; that’s the group that made the game), this volume explores what happens with a different girl from the first book’s Mao-chan. Kouichi meets the athletic (but very busty) Asuka when she hits him in the head with a soccer ball. He opens his eyes to find her, sweaty and dripping, leaning over him so he can look down her cleavage.

The girl exists to smile and pose directly at him, in the place of the (presumably male) reader. Everything is fraught with teasing; sharing a drink straw becomes an “indirect kiss” in Kouichi’s mind, while playing together is full of opportunities for unexpected physical contact. (Hee hee. His name is “cootchie”.) In the rest of its 180 or so pages, the book does get a little more romantic, as the two work together to help Asuka achieve her soccer-playing goals and go on a beach trip.

As in the first volume, most of the advances are made by the girl. Asuka has never had a boyfriend, so she asks Kouichi to be her “love coach”, which means pretending they’re dating until they actually are. It’s part of the fantasy, that this attractive girl will demonstrate interest without him having to put himself out or risk rejection. (The older Tokyopop series Boys Be worked the same way.) Yet she’s also shy and untouched, so no worries about her being more experienced than he is or making him feel naive or immature.

The first four art pages should tell you whether this one’s for you — they consist of a bikini shot, a two-page spread of the girl and guy in a tub together with him reaching between her legs, and her in schoolgirl costume leaning over and smiling directly at the reader. It’s all fantasy come-on. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

• Honey & Clover Book 7 — art school students search for purpose and happiness
• Mixed Vegetables Book 5 — a girl expected to be a pastry chef wants to make sushi instead
• Monkey High Book 7 — reserved girl and short, goofy boy make an odd couple; although this sounds like Love*Com (see below), the mood here is much more thoughtful, while L*C is comedic
• Nana Book 18 — the most mature and involving of the lot, the story of a rock chick and her best friend looking for love and satisfaction
• S.A. Book 12 — competitive students at an elite school
• St. Dragon Girl Book 4 — mystic romance with dragon spirit powers
• We Were There Book 6 — melancholy romance haunted by the memory of a dead love

That’s quite a range of “manga for girls”, with little in common among them beyond the desire to find love and purpose in life. Many of the lead characters are seeking to be successful at what they most enjoy doing, whether it’s fighting or singing or cooking or creating, while others simply want to be sure of their love and being loved. I think that’s why I still enjoy reading these series — even though I’m much older than these girls or the target audience, I can relate to the conflict between where you are and where you dream of being.

Rasetsu Book 2

Rasetsu Book 2
Buy this book

by Chika Shiomi

The title character is an exorcist promised to a demon if she hasn’t found true love before she’s 20. That’s a very visual, dramatic way to symbolize the kind of ticking clock many girls feel when it comes to coupling up. Her co-worker, psychic Yako, could help her break the curse, except they tease and spar instead of admitting their true feelings for each other.

He’s cute and vaguely scholarly, with glasses, while she’s passionate and dramatic, with long straight black hair. And their interplay with each other and with co-workers is quite amusing, especially since one of them, Kuryu, seems to flirt with both of them. His power is that people do what he tells them, which would make him dangerous if he wasn’t so playful.

This office romance gains a new twist through the supernatural aspects of the job, but it’s the conversations and trust among the characters that make this series so appealing. (I got a Moonlighting/Castle vibe from it.) Although this is my first sample of the series, I feel like I know the cast already and want them to be happy, although it’s fun watching them screw things up along the way, too. This volume also includes a flashback to a younger Rasetsu, shy of people and somewhat feral. The series is a sequel to Yurara, which featured Yako’s earlier days.

Love*Com Book 14

Love*Com Book 14
Buy this book

by Aya Nakahara

The latest conflict between Risa and Otani is continued from the previous volume: a gorgeous woman has befriended Otani, making Risa jealous. Typical of this series is the use of stereotypical devices — this isn’t the first temporary flirtation to come between the two — but they’re treated with a rapid-fire, light-handed approach, emphasizing the comedy that stems from the wacky core personalities and ramping up the emotional impact.

Outrageous events include a group of girls kidnapping Otani, painting his face like a cat, and then blackmailing him into breaking up with Risa, so she will date the guy they all love. In no way does this resemble anything like normal human behavior, but it’s silly fun.

Various misunderstandings pile on each other so that everyone, eventually, is wrong. Underlying it all is an accurate portrait of the insecurity of teen romance. The panels are as busy, artistically, as the minds of the characters, racing around “does he still like me? what should I do now?” It’s likely too late to jump on now, since the interplay of the characters makes more sense the more you know of their history, but for those who’ve been following the series, it’s another solid entry.

Sand Chronicles Book 6

Sand Chronicles Book 6
Buy this book

by Hinako Ashihara

As the series progresses, Ann is trying to move on from her first love — she’s got a new boyfriend, one who’s more like her and has a bright future. But the history of her memories may not be so easy to shake. And ultimately, she has to find strength in herself, not through anyone else, before she can love without reservations.

It’s summer, the last one before high school ends, so several students rent a beach cottage with the pretense of “studying together” to get into college. Their friends’ chatter about them makes the new couple uncomfortable, adding expectations and not allowing them to proceed at their own rate of development in their relationship.

The art is lovely shojo style, all faces and emotions with exaggeration when needed to make a point or go for a laugh. It carries mood well. The series is about memory, how we look back on things and how who we were affect who we are. At one point, Ann bemoans that she won’t get a “clean break” from part of her past. She wants that time to let it become a happy memory, instead of a painful one, but there are too many connections with people who knew her then for her to be able to simply change from one to the other. That’s something only living and the passage of time can accomplish. Plus, she’s not even sure she’s ready to let go.

The portrayal of tension between the head (what she thinks she should do) and the heart (symbolized by her hourglass) is what drives this series to its depths of emotion. I find it touching and affecting. The path to believing in oneself, to finding yourself worthy of being loved without fear or question, is a difficult one but one well worth reading about.

High School Debut Book 11

High School Debut Book 11
Buy this book

by Kazune Kawahara

The Creepy Girl from the previous book is playing on Yoh’s kindness in an attempt to wedge herself between him and Haruna. I was a bit surprised to see her portrayed as so manipulative and mean, but when I checked back in the previous chapters, I realized she’d been that way all along. I’d just been seeing her through Yoh’s eyes and assuming no one could be that nasty on purpose.

It doesn’t help that Haruna isn’t comfortable with her emotions. When she feels uncertain or jealous, she doesn’t know how to process that, so someone else telling her she’s horrible for feeling that way has undue sway over her. That causes a descending spiral of interactions, where her self-dislike causes more misunderstandings.

Although that story takes most of the book to finish, the last chapter brings back the clueless Haruna I know and love. It’s Yoh’s birthday, and she proposes an overnight trip for them. Everyone but her knows what staying overnight means for a couple, but she’s unaware that her talking about it so openly suggests that she’s saying she wants to have sex with him. When she does figure it out, her reactions are hilarious! The next book will show the actual trip, which I’m looking forward to.

Shoujo Art Studio
Buy this book

In the West, we’ve come to view shoujo as a way of talking about certain styles of manga and anime — those concerned with relationships and character development — but in Japan, it just means aimed at girls. This means there are no limits to what it can depict, or what you can choose to write and draw about.

Unfortunately, the content of the rest of the book doesn’t really support that statement. The book is really selling templates. The included CD contains character line art, page layouts, word balloons, speedlines, tones, backgrounds, and accessories. You use the art, and you can build manga without drawing much yourself. It’s a print version of something like Tokyopop Manga Creator. Again, from the introduction:

We have done most of the hard work for you… It’s as simple as selecting the look you want, assembling the sections of line art you like, and then transplanting your finished creations into one of the provided page layouts.

“Creation” seems a bit optimistic, given how little actual work the “creator” is doing, but maybe that’s how the word has been redefined in today’s cut-and-paste remix world.

The book is well-designed and easy-to-read, with brightly colored page backgrounds and lots of short text paragraphs with headers to help you find information, but the content is slight. The first 67 pages show you how to use the CD files to create digital manga, which is a huge topic for that short space, especially when (for example) two pages is given over to explaining that you need a mouse, the internet, a printer, and maybe a scanner.

The CD files are in PSD (Photoshop) format, so you’ll need some version of that program. You turn various layers on and off to give the characters different expressions or poses and resize them for closeups. There’s no information on writing — creating an interesting story, figuring out character motivations, or the like — only assembling pre-provided elements to build pages. Although there are 16 pages on coloring, including basic color theory.

The second half of the book is a catalog of the images available on the CD. I’m reminded of the 70s toy Fashion Plates, where you could “design high-fashion outfits” by mixing and matching raised templates and then doing charcoal rubbings. It wasn’t particularly creative then, and it’s not any more so now that it uses a computer instead of plastic plates.

After reading this instruction set, I’m also not sure what makes it specifically “shoujo”, unless it’s an emphasis on typical schoolgirl love stories. In contrast to the optimistic opening, all of the examples use that kind of premise and character look.

I’m fascinated by the book design — I don’t know why they made the CD such a prominent part of the cover, but it does reinforce for the customer that it’s included and its importance. Maybe they wanted the reader to be sure to see the line “Read the enclosed License Agreement before using any image on this disc.” Surprisingly, by my reading, the license does allow you to use the provided material for commercial efforts (so long as it’s not pornographic or obscene); you just can’t redistribute the libraries.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Book 14
Buy this book

When Suguri returns, she discovers that her boss Teppei has taken his purebred black Labrador Noa (which is how Suguri and Teppei met) to be bred. That leads into the meat of the book, which tackles the question of mating. Suguri sentimentally wanted Noa and Lupin to have puppies together, but Lupin’s a mutt, so the dogs wouldn’t have much value and their size and health can’t be predicted. Plus, customers in Tokyo don’t want big dogs unless they can brag about them, so the puppies would be hard to find homes for.

Suguri, using the lessons she learned at the farm in book 9, helps Noa have her puppies, but she’s torn. She really wants the brave Lupin to reproduce, but that may not be the best decision. Puppies are cute, but they don’t stay puppies for long, and dog ownership is an important responsibility. (That’s the core message of the series.) There are plenty of unwanted animals put to sleep, and owners shouldn’t contribute to that problem by not thinking through their choices.

Then, though, things get a little weird, as Suguri talks about the decision in terms of “Lupin’s first love” and his “girlfriend”, confusing human rituals with animal instincts. Also creepy: mention of a breed where the dog has been shaped in such a way that purebreds can only give birth through C-section with human assistance. The debate between Suguri and Teppei that follows these concepts reads to me as very Japanese, especially once customer Kim gets involved (even though he’s Korean).

I understand your feelings … but … I am not wrong either. Let’s be rational. It’s hard to say who’s wrong and who’s right.

But then each of them thinks to himself that they know they’re right and how they won’t change their beliefs because it’s so important. It was an interesting glance into a different culture, and how they argue even when animal lives are at stake. They’re acting as parents, not pet-owners, and trying to make decisions based on what will bring the best future for everyone.

Getting unwanted dogs adopted is a tough topic, and one that I’m glad to see this series tackle. So much of it so far has been about the pet store and buying purebreds, and that desire to have a “clean” dog, both in history and parentage, is part of the problem. It’s tough to adopt a dog when you don’t know how they may have been abused, but many “mutts” are hardier and happier than breeds with built-in health issues. Having to find a good home for a larger dog gives Suguri the experience both in understanding how large pets function in a crowded city and in saying goodbye to an animal she cares about.

This volume is very dog-heavy, with lots of pet-focused events, images, and different breeds discussed and shown. Since that’s why I read the series — to experience some of the ups and downs of dog ownership — I loved it. The art does a fantastic job of capturing how the different types of dogs look and behave as they interact, and I enjoyed seeing the variety — big dogs, little ones, adults, puppies, working animals, and pets.

Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs Book 14 is due out October 20. A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.

Gesicht has been assigned to guard Adolf Haas and his family. Haas’ former colleagues have decided he’s a liability and want him dead before he can reveal too many of their secrets. But Gesicht is starting a personal crisis as buried memories begin to surface, revealing shocking details of his past.

Also in this volume, Hercules faces off against Pluto, while Uran, Professor Ochanomizu, and Professor Tenma all have to come to grips with what happened to Atom.

Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Book 5
Buy this book

Volume five at its core is about robot psychology. It specifically focuses on how robots handle hate. This theme is first mentioned during Epsilon’s conversation with Hercules in volume three. Epsilon is worried that as robots grow closer to humans, robots will learn hatred. He’s scared of the consequences robot hatred will have. We also see this theme briefly alluded to in volume four, when Tenma tells Ochanomizu that emotions like sadness and frustration are needed for an artificial intelligence to truly mature.

Tenma’s statement in volume four is further significant because it offers a different definition of intelligence than is commonly held. Tenma believes that true intelligence is both cognitive and emotive. Robot law demands robots be built with suppressed emotions, thus robots are stunted intellectually. It’s obvious that even Ochanomizu doesn’t share this view, since he thinks Atom is a masterpiece. Tenma sees Atom as a failure because of his lack of emotional range. Further, I believe Tenma is echoing Urasawa’s own belief on the nature of intelligence, and I suspect we will see the rest of the series explore this idea.

Why does Tenma see emotion as fundamental to true intellectual development? In the West, we have a compartmentalized view of human nature. We see the cognitive and emotive sides of our beings as not just separate but in opposition to each other. Urasawa is offering a more holistic view of human beings. Reason and emotion are opposite sides of the same coin. Just as there is no such thing as a coin with one side, so too there is no such thing as pure cognitive intelligence. Pure rationality is simply machine processing. For cognition to have life there must be emotion. What fuels us to seek a cure for cancer? A well-constructed, logical argument about physical health? No. It’s compassion. It’s seeing people suffer and die from cancer and being moved emotionally to want no one else to endure the same fate.

So why does Epilson fear hatred? Because of its irrational nature. Robots are constructed with multiple levels of safeguards to prevent them from intentionally harming humans. Any strong emotion would bypass or override those safeguards. What happens when robot behavior truly becomes human and losses its predictability? Robots are stronger, faster, smarter, and more durable than humans. Robots have enjoyed civil rights because they are not seen as a threat to humanity. But what if humans can no longer trust robots? They’ll revoke robot civil rights. Imagine how the newly emotive robots will react to the loss of their civil rights. Epilson fears for the future of the Earth, if robots learn to hate.

This discussion brings to light the differences between cognitive maturity, emotional maturity, and experiential maturity. Robots have the reason and body of an adult. The difficulty comes when robots begin to develop emotions but have no experience to handle what they’re feeling. It’s obvious why they would be dangerous at this stage in their lives. In humans, the danger is mitigated by the fact we are physically developing as we begin to mature emotionally. Of course, you can’t program in emotional maturity the same way you can program in rationality. Assuming we’re as committed as Tenma in making robots holistic persons, the problem is how to safely develop emotional maturity in robots.

There is a great Tezuka moment in this book. One constant motif in the original Astro Boy series was robots teaching humans how to behave humanely. In this book, Gesicht has come to realize the anger buried deep inside himself. He confesses his anger to Haas and how it scares him. He asks Haas if the hatred ever disappears. Haas has let anger consume and define him all his life. Here, a robot who has a right to hate Haas and his brother is shamed by his anger and begs to be free of it. In that moment, a machine is teaching a human proper care for the soul. Haas sees his failure as a person and cries. It’s a powerful moment of redemption for both men.

Adding depth to the exploration of robot psychology is the chapter focusing on Uran. She is coping with the loss of her brother. We see her going through the same steps of grief as a human. It’s a heartbreaking chapter as we come to see how deeply she loved Atom, even if they didn’t always get along. Uran shows how emotionally complex robots really are. I love that the school principal understands this and advises the teachers to treat Uran like any other student coping with death of a family member. The last two pages are the most poignant. They also show us how amazingly perceptive and accurate her intuitions are.

This book introduces Professor Tenma as a major character. In the original series, Tenma was an enigma. You could understand why he created Atom, and even why he rejected Atom, but not why he went on to treat Atom the way he did. Urasawa fleshes him out more, like he does with all of Tezuka’s characters, while preserving an air of mystery around him. The conversation between Tenma and Ochanomizu is one I’ve longed to see as an Astro Boy fan, two robotic geniuses talking shop. There’s a darkness to Tenma that unfortunately skews his vision of life. He focuses on the negative emotions and thinks they are the path for robots to reach full personhood. I’m hoping in the next volume that Ochanomizu will offer a corrective, showing Tenma that robots can mature just as fully through love. Atom and Uran are the perfect examples of this.

As always, the art is amazing. One thing that struck me in this volume was the perfect pacing of each scene. Urasawa knows exactly how many panels to dedicate to each moment to produce the needed emotional impact or dramatic effect. If there is tension between two characters, he knows whether you need one or two silent reaction shots to convey the proper friction. The last scene of Uran’s chapter is amazing because each panel is a punctuated moment. Each moment increases the emotional potential of the scene. Slowly, meticulously, Urasawa progresses the narrative to the last page, where we are hit with all that stored emotion. We feel both knocked off our feet and relieved. Then brilliantly, the last two panels provide the seamless transition to the next chapter.

I want to praise Viz for their reproduction job. In the last three volumes, there are pages that can’t have been easy or cheap to get right. Viz has spent the time and effort to make sure the book you’re holding is the same quality as the series it contains. The Viz Signature line is at a slightly higher price point, but the books are worth every penny you pay.

I have to say that volume five has been my favorite book of Pluto so far. It’s an incredibly rewarding read, both cognitively and emotionally, with multiple layers of narrative. I love how Urasawa is giving new depth to older themes while bringing in new themes to explore. It’s a book that has captivated and energized my thinking for several days. Each time I think about a particular chapter or character, I get excited by all the ideas that come flooding in for me to examine and play with. Setting the imagination on fire is the hallmark of great literature.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Otomen Book 3
Buy this book

There’s more in this volume about Love Chick, the manga Juta creates based on the adventures of his friends Asuka and Ryo. Since Asuka is the otomen of the title, a manly boy who nevertheless likes cute crafts and cooking, he’s been transformed into the female protagonist of the manga-inside-the-manga. And with his combination of sports, girly hobbies, and shyness when it comes to expressing his feelings, he makes a terrific tomboy shojo heroine. Ryo, the “eccentric beauty” who excels at martial arts but can’t clean house, becomes the one Asuka’s in love with … with the same name as in real life!

I love seeing how Juta tries to push the two friends together just because he needs more material for his comic series. I did wonder, though, from time to time, why none of the characters who read the Love Chick manga, recognized themselves in it. Or, at least, realized how big of a coincidence it was that both groups did the same unusual things, like fighting a wild bull.

In the first story, Ryo needs Asuka’s help taking care of nursery children. Working with young, impressionable minds who are already beginning to form ideas of what men and women should and shouldn’t do just puts Asuka’s skills into sharper relief. (Especially since he saves the day in both “manly” (athletic) and “feminine” (cooking, crafts) fashion.) I like the idea that he left them, especially one stubborn little boy who started with the impression that “it’s weird for a guy to take care of kids,” with something to think about.

Of course, all of the stories are careful to establish Asuka’s bravery through exaggerated athletic feats. He saves a kid’s life by jumping through a window or grabs lit dynamite to prevent an amusement park explosion… it’s kind of like the last ten minutes of each chapter suddenly switch from One Tree Hill or 90210 to CSI: Miami. But the characters’ charming, happy, young faces keep things light.

The third chapter is my favorite. A bunch of jealous, interested girls want to know if Juta has one special girlfriend. Asuka vows to find out, but his behavior is such that they come to think he’s the love interest. It’s a goofy, frothy set of misunderstandings and coy nudges in which we learn more about Juta’s very unexpected home life. Also new in this book is Hajime, a sports (kendo) rival to Asuka. Through the wacky coincidences that this series does so well, the two end up playing superheroes at a woman’s festival, and things continue to be both traditional (tight-lipped honorable recognition of a worthy competitor) and ridiculously silly (makeovers! costumes!).

When the creator is on, the right balance of that combination is what makes Otomen such fun.

By day, Soichi Negishi is a meek, mild lover of saccharine Swedish pop who hopes to become a famous musician in the same genre. By night, he is Lord Krauser II, front man for the Detroit Metal City (DMC), an underground death metal band, infamous for depraved lyrics and reprobate stage antics. The manga focuses on the conflict these two opposite personalities and lifestyles cause Soichi.

Detroit Metal City Book 2
Buy this book

Detroit Metal City is one of the guiltiest pleasures in my life. There are so many reasons not to like this series: abundant use of foul language, crude humor, misogynistic lyrics and actions, moronic fans, etc. Yet these unsavory elements are exactly what makes the series so funny and a delight to read. Wakasugi’s genius is that he has created this insane setup of musician with borderline Dissociative Identity Disorder (split personality) and just runs full throttle with it. The humor is so over-the-top that you can’t take it seriously. In fact, DMC doesn’t take itself seriously. Often the last panel of a story is Wakasugi giving us a knowing wink.

Soichi is pathetically funny. He hates being Krauser. However, Krauser is inexorably a part of him. He is disgusted by the lyrics he writes for DMC, but each song seems to get darker than the next. Even when he wants to quit, he can’t stand seeing someone else try to be Krauser in his place. It’s tempting to think that Krauser is simply Soichi expressing repressed anger and frustrations, but there’s more to it than that. Even Soichi can’t explain everything Krauser says and does. In truth, I can’t even image how to reconcile these two personas or what a middle ground between the two would look like. Wakasugi has created this wonderful paradox that’s a goldmine of comedy. Krauser is only palatable because you know Soichi is behind the makeup and the disconnect is so extreme you either laugh or turn away in disgust.

Even more amazing is the devotion and worship the DMC fans give Krauser. They accept everything he does as brilliant and analyze everything he says for hidden meanings. They have formed a cult that believes Krauser really does every depraved act mentioned in his lyrics. Incredibly enough, they actually believe he spends most of his waking hours raping every woman he comes in contact with and murdering random strangers just for kicks. The fans don’t let little details like how all these murders and rapes escape both police and news media bother them.

There is also a great cast of supporting characters. The most charismatic is DMC’s manager, referred to simply as Boss. She is bawdy, aggressive, and rules with an iron fist. She judges all things by the amount of vaginal secretions they effect in her. She is the Shakespeare of libido metaphors. She’s serious about making the band a huge success. She also wants Soichi to abandon his Swedish-pop-loving ways and completely become Krauser. She is such a forceful personality that she steals every scene she’s in.

The art is just as energetic and hysterical as the story. Wakasugi is able to make Soichi look sweet and innocent while making Krauser look demonic and maniac. The character designs are exceptional. DMC’s stage costumes are a great parody of Kiss’s look. Soichi’s facial expressions in and out of makeup are priceless. Without the great art this book wouldn’t be half as fun as it is.

As a former Kiss fan, I find DMC to be a great parody of heavy metal music and all the craziness that surrounds it. It’s definitely not a series for the easily offended. The humor and language are very crude. If you can get past that obstacle, you will find an infectiously funny series. I crack up trying to describe DMC to friends. The fact I still find the jokes humorous several days after I’ve read the book is the best recommendation I can make.

(A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Oishinbo a la Carte: Vegetables
Buy this book

Plus, there’s a bit more of a point of view here, with a political stance taken on farming techniques, as well as the first time I’ve felt sympathetic towards Yamaoka’s father, as his son reacts ungraciously to a favor.

The first (of 8) stories in this volume is the longest and brings the competition between Yamaoka and his father into sharpest relief. It’s a direct battle to prepare the best vegetable dish, and it starts in the fields. Pesticides and herbicides are called out for poisoning the food they’re used on, and cabbages and turnips grown organically will be used as the ingredients. Many of the characters, upon first tasting these naturally grown veggies, marvel at how much better they taste than the food they’re used to. Exploring the entire food chain also gives the battle more gravitas, more sense of fighting to create great art instead of just a father/son spat. (The pesticide question is returned to in a later chapter, with a debate between an environmentalist and a conservative who bullies those who disagree with him.)

The settings also help vary the art, giving us more to look at than people talking over dishes of food. The characters’ passion also displays itself visually through emotional reaction. Dad very often really does know better, having gained experience over his longer life. He knows how to focus on a key ingredient, shedding new light on its purity, instead of merely using it in a fancy dish. It’s a shame that he’s unable to educate his son — but showing him up only makes his resentful, unable to take in the lesson. That’s human nature, to find it hard to admit we can learn things from those we dislike.

Dad making snide remarks about “some idiots… just don’t seem to realize that” doesn’t help, of course. They’re both so much like each other in their pettiness and need to have others recognize their genius. Even when the father tries to be nice, making himself look bad to give his son another chance to remedy a mistake, neither one of them can be gracious about it. Dad snaps at the judges, and the son just gets madder at the unwanted help, especially after the father rubs in how he plans to win anyway. The end result, the two screaming at each other, makes for exaggerated drama and amusing art.

It’s that universal, basic conflict that kept this series running for decades, combined with the mouth-watering description of out-of-the-ordinary plates and dishes. The deep tension of the father/son relationship and the high art of assembling the best menu ever are both lightened by shorter chapter stories with simpler, heart-warming endings. The messages in some of the other stories are similarly reassuring: Yamaoka gets a winning concept from the home country cooking of a friend’s mother, reinforcing the sentimental value of family and homeland.

One of the chapters is particularly timely, as a young, high-rising entrepreneur finds himself bankrupt and rediscovers the joy of time with his family and simple food. In another, a kid learns to eat eggplant, which he previously disliked, when stir-fried in oil (a method that I imagine makes any vegetable better). Another picky child becomes a happy eater when given organic country food. A couple, torn apart by their successful careers, is reunited over asparagus.

I found the one about having bean sprouts for lunch to teach kids to stop bullying a bit of a reach, but its silliness lightens the mood. Funniest for me, though, was the one in which Yamaoka and his co-workers are asked to pick the best book about food. Yamaoka, typically contrary, refuses:

Food is meant to be eaten–not read. It’s only annoying to read about how other people are eating good stuff.

Yes, that’s the most frustrating thing about this series… too many beautiful illustrations of yummy-sounding dishes that I’ll never taste. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Book 3
Buy this book

I’m impressed by how the girl students all have the same face, but with hair shapes and a few accessories, he creates different characters, reminiscent of their personality quirks. Everyone here is defined by their quirks, including the teacher protagonist, whose depression-based suicide attempts have thankfully declined.

The many references can be overwhelming, but reading the endnotes that explain them serves as an education. The situations are ridiculously unrealistic — the teacher’s sister, who envies his life of poverty; striving for the lowest possible cultural minimum; the idea of previewing a trip by going but not doing anything; retired officials in cushy sinecures; obsession over popular fads; how to prove you are yourself — but it’s the way in which everything is taken so far beyond the everyday, past even exaggeration into a whole new world, that entertains me. Because at its core, it’s based on key observations of human nature, warped for our enjoyment. That makes us all like him and his students.

I especially enjoyed the story with the guy who could turn anything into a children’s book. Plus, it included lots of penguins in a non-sequitur gag. In Kumeta’s art style, their heads are perfect circles with patches of black and white, making them oddly resemble crosses between bowling balls and yin/yang symbols.

I do wish, given how often I flip back and forth between manga and notes, that page numbers were used much more often.

A Tale of an Unknown Country Book 1
Buy this book

Like that series, this is a romantic fantasy, although without the magical elements. Princess Rosemarie goes undercover as a maid in the castle of Reynol, prince of a neighboring country. Rosemarie’s brother has arranged their marriage, but she wants a sneak peek at the man she’s going to be paired with. If she marries the richer prince, their country will be better off and she can stop working for their tourist industries.

The prince gives Rosemarie plenty of menial tasks, and she winds up taking care of him, since he doesn’t eat right or get enough sleep. There’s also a rather obvious contrast between Rosemarie’s country’s emphasis on nature and the scientific, automated bent of the other country (although there’s somehow still a need for human maids, a contradiction acknowledged in the story).

The art style reminds me of a simpler, easier-to-read Arina Tanemura (Time Stranger Kyoko, The Gentlemen’s Alliance +). The heroine is large-eyed and happy. She’s got the typical shojo approach to life — once thrown into a situation where she’s supposed to fall in love, she lets that control her life. It’s all very traditional, with her skills being caring for others and plants while the guys make decisions around her. That the prince turns out to be a nice guy is the happy ending — her taking more of a leadership role or refusing to be used as a bargaining chip for her country isn’t ever considered. She excels at traditional feminine tasks, emphasized by her being a good maid, and she isn’t afraid of hard work.

In the second chapter, the prince visits her kingdom, and she’s suddenly become shy and blushing. What happened to the girl who worked hard in someone else’s castle and spoke up to help the prince? I know she’s new to love, but that seems to go a bit far. There’s also a new rival, an upscale princess from yet another country who finds Rosemarie’s ways quaint and rough. The author keeps trying to go back to the “maid masquerade” idea, and the use becomes increasingly labored. Another prince comes from a kingdom dedicated to the fine arts. It’s nations as school subjects!

Once past the stand-alone story of the first chapter, the author doesn’t seem to know exactly where she wants to go, since the point of the concept hook is gone. So she keeps throwing in underdeveloped characters to serve as random obstacles. Oddly, instead of the two lovers working to overcome the various rivals, most of them just give up after seeing how the two belong together. The outsiders are often more sure of their relationship than the two participants are. I also sometimes found it hard to keep up with who was speaking, since the voices weren’t particularly distinctive, so if I lost track of a speaker, figuring it out again required backtracking.

On the other hand, it’s nice to have a cute, light girls’ romance manga rated for all ages. Exploring the stirrings of first love is a topic many will enjoy reading. If the only thing objectionable in here is that the gender roles are traditional, well, there’s nothing unusual about that. Younger readers are unlikely to pick up on the lack of focus, finding the sprawling nature of the tale a plus instead of a flaw.

There’s also a short bonus story, “Voice Magic”, about a boy who falls in love with a girl after hearing her read school announcements on the radio. (A complimentary copy for this review was provided by the publisher.)

Bizenghast Book 6
Buy this book

Even though I’ve never read earlier volumes in the series, I figured the longevity deserved recognition, so I’d check it out. And I can see why Bizenghast has found an audience: M. Alice LeGrow has created an involving fantasy world that reuses classic elements with plenty of features the teen audience will find appealing.

This volume starts with a grumpy talking backpack carried by an exotic-looking boy (toned skin, curly dark hair, almond-shaped eyes). His brother has an opinion on everything, ranting while they wander a department store. The dialogue is hip and knowing and full of attitude.

The main story, though, is about Dinah, an orphan in the mysterious town of Bizenghast. She has a mission involving The Mausoleum, something about orders from the Afterlife and helping ghosts. A seed is stolen and a guardian murdered, so she and others need to find out why and who’s responsible. Meanwhile, the town’s going crazy.

Chapters ponder the logic of dreams and introduce the brothers’ sister, who creates talismans to aid in their mystical quest. Various religious aspects and allusions provide some thematic depth to the material. There are horrible sights in a hidden basement and a secret letter from the past, all classic elements of this genre. The mythos underlying this world is full of creepiness, magic, and bigger unknown forces. Everyone seems taken over and turned against Dinah, except for one of the helpers, who has a crush that remains unspoken.

I felt lost much of the time, not knowing what’s happened in the past, and I found the quest familiar and a bit predictable, but I could see the appeal of the characters. The art isn’t particularly manga-esque to my eyes. If it wasn’t presented in this context, it would remind me of some classic fantasy indy comics, perhaps (for example) the work of Teri Sue Wood. The designs and settings are great, full of detail and with a lot of attention paid to appearance.

The combination of exploring dreams and the afterlife with teens who act like teens, shopping and paying attention to clothes, makes this an updated gothic fantasy with particular appeal to younger readers who may be less familiar with the stock elements. No word on whether we should still expect to see Book 7, the concluding chapter, next year. A sample chapter is available at the publisher’s website.

The Manga Guide to Calculus
Buy this book

written by Hiroyuki Kojima; art by Shin Togami

As I’ve read more of this series, I’ve come to appreciate better what they’re doing. I’ve found most of them fun ways to brush up on technical subjects. And the more imaginative and developed the framing story is, the more interested I am. A book that says “Girl student needs to study and here’s what she learns” isn’t as involving as, for example, “Princess needs to save the country’s business with a database” or even “Learn physics and beat your snotty classmate.”

Unfortunately, that can be taken too far. With The Manga Guide to Calculus, I found the characters and their situation a lot more interesting and informative than the math they’re supposed to be teaching us. Noriko is an aspiring journalist starting her career in a small branch office of a newspaper. Her new boss notices that she doesn’t have any math in her academic background, so he wants her to learn about functions and correlations to better understand how story elements are related and how to research underlying causality.

This intriguing proposition is never really followed up on. It seems something of a stretch, and at times, the editor’s insistence on turning anything into an excuse to drone on about derivatives and integration becomes quite comical. A trip to get lunch reminds him of the need to calculate curves and graph functions. He gets so distracted he runs the car off the road, and while they wait for help, he launches into a lecture on relative error.

The author’s approach is to focus on why calculus is useful in the real world, which sounds like a refreshing take that gets past memorizing formulas and techniques to emphasize understanding and practical use. However, his intent is rarely reflected on the page. I found the calculus material not particularly well-integrated (heh) into the story — I started resenting the graphs and textbook-style text pages for interrupting my reading about the characters and their struggles to do a good job of journalism. (An attitude I shared with Noriko, who says at one point, “I don’t care about relative difference. I just want some lunch.”)

The text summaries of the concepts at the end of each chapter didn’t have much relation to what was presented in the manga format, assuming a lot of knowledge that wasn’t introduced here. The editor doesn’t demonstrate how calculus is useful in daily life; instead, he uses daily life as calculus examples. That’s a subtle distinction, but a significant one. The former would mean providing, for instance, examples of why one would use a particular derivative to calculate something. The latter means saying something like “let’s think of this road shape as a function” or “let’s pretend these dancers are following waves so we can talk about trigonometric functions”. I was lost when it came to understanding the math, even though I used to teach it to others (as a college tutor).

The author’s introduction brags about using “fundamentally different” teaching methods — perhaps that’s the problem. Often, methods become common because they work. This is a book where, instead of educating readers on calculus by using the art effectively, we’re just shown people talking about math. The author also frequently says “this can approximate that” or “let’s assume this is 0 so we can ignore it” without a lot of background as to why those assumptions are valid, which makes some of the cases resemble hand-waving: “It works because I say so.”

For me, sadly, this book was a failure. (I think I also found a typo that changes the numerical meaning on p35.) I did learn some interesting things, such as why antitrust laws are necessary to prevent monopolistic price manipulation, how bubbles behave in beer, the effects of greenhouse gases, and the economics of supply and demand curves. It’s a very informative book, except for the actual calculus. My favorite lessons were about how to be a good journalist. That’s the book I would rather have read. Preview pages are available at the publisher’s website.

The Manga Guide to Electricity

The Manga Guide to Electricity
Buy this book

written by Kazuhiro Fujitaki; art by Matsuda

This installment of the series also didn’t work for me, for similar reasons.

Rereko is from Electopia, where electronics are more advanced and everyone must understand them. However, she is a dunce and so is sent to our world for remedial education. “Since the study of electricity is slower [there], it’ll be perfect for you!” says her instructor. I’m not sure that’s the best beginning, calling our planet backwards when Rereko is the one who seems to know nothing.

Here on earth, Hikaru is a grad student who agrees to tutor her in exchange for her cleaning his messy room, making him lunches, and cooking him dinner. Sheesh. If you objected to the gender roles in the Statistics volume, you definitely want to avoid this one. Then the teacher freaks out when she makes a joke about them seeming like a “married couple”. Whose idea was it to treat her like a maid?

Sadly, his method of instruction is lecturing on concepts, terminology, and equations, without much involvement of daily life examples. This volume doesn’t take full advantage of the manga format, serving instead as merely an illustrated text where the images don’t add much. Making the student such a ditz was a poor choice, since it means she can add little to the discussion, and he’s got no personality beyond “messy student geek”.

That said, I did learn a lot, including how to make various kinds of batteries. The information is clearly presented, but it’s dry and not as entertaining as some of the other volumes in the series. Preview pages are available at the publisher’s website.

(Complimentary copies for this review were provided by the publisher.)