Category: Manga

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Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Vol. 1

By Koji Kumeta
192 pages, black and white
Published by Del Rey

There are always times when I really wonder just how much I’m "missing" when reading a translation of a comic into English. Just reading comics that started out in English, it’s easy to see cultural references left and right, ones that even readers from its place of origin might not initially get. So when you’re reading a comic from, say, France or Japan, the chances of missing those cultural references are much higher. That’s something that finally really came home while reading Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei Vol. 1; the translator does the best job she can, and there are lots of footnotes at the end of the book, but it’s almost shocking just how much is going to fly over most people’s heads.

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Tsubasa Vol. 20

By CLAMP
192 pages, black and white
Published by Del Rey Manga

I will admit that for the past few volumes of Tsubasa, I’ve been less than thrilled with CLAMP’s dimension-hopping series. I’d always liked the original conceit of the book—traveling across the universes to reclaim the scattered fragments of Princess Sakura’s soul—and CLAMP has certainly proven that they’re not afraid to mix things up a great deal. Any book which thousands of pages in suddenly reveals the main character to be a traitorous clone of the real, imprisoned hero automatically gets a second look, after all. But with the latest volume of Tsubasa, things seem finally back on track, in no small part by tackling what I’d always thought was an odd omission: the history and back story of the supporting cast characters.

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Oishinbo: A la Carte: Japanese Cuisine

Written by Tetsu Kariya
Art by Akira Hanasaki
272 pages, black and white
Published by Viz

I love that in Japan, it’s nothing out of the ordinary to have a comic centered around cooking. In the case of Tetsu Kariya and Akira Hanasaki’s Oishinbo, though, it’s all the more impressive when you consider that the comic has run since 1983, with over 100 collections to date in Japan. What to do to try and hook new readers who perhaps don’t have the time or attention span to plow through over 20,000 pages of manga? Enter the Oishinbo: A la Carte series, where each volume is a "best-of" compilation around a specific type of food. Now that Viz has translated the first volume, Oishinbo: A la Carte: Japanese Cuisine, I’m quite happy to say that creating that sort of collection was absolutely the way to go.

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Solanin

By Inio Asano
432 pages, black and white
Published by Viz

Sometimes, it’s just the cover image that sells you on a book. With a comic like Solanin, it’s easy to see how that would happen. With the lead character’s face staring out at the reader, band-aid under one eye, cap on head, it’s hard to not feel your heart soften a bit at even a glance. And from there, it’s not far to looking at the insides and discovering that it looks even more enchanting, with its group of recent college graduates and their interactions. But the reality is that despite all the cuteness, this is a book that’s a lot tougher than you might initially think—and it’s that toughness that makes Solanin that much more memorable.

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Walking Man

By Jiro Taniguchi
160 pages, black and white
Published by Fanfare/Ponent Mon

A few months ago, I finally replaced a book of mine that had gone mysteriously "missing." I say it that way because I am pretty sure I lent it to someone else who then conveniently never returned it. Normally this drives me mad, but when the book is Jiro Taniguchi’s The Walking Man I almost have to understand. After all, when a book this wonderfully good yet simple crosses your path, it’s hard to not instantly fall in love with it. If nothing else, the fact that I ended up buying a new copy says that this is the kind of book that I’ll enjoy re-reading again and again, doesn’t it?

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Yokaiden Vol. 1

By Nina Matsumoto
192 pages, black and white
Published by Del Rey

There are a lot of different terms being used for when a publisher known for their manga line decides to produce (instead of just translate) some comics of their own. American manga, amerimanga, western manga, world manga, global manga, neo-manga, original English-language manga (or OEL manga), the names appear almost as fast as the comics themselves. Sometimes the attempts are merely formatted the same but in no other ways different. Sometimes the comics ape many of the hallmarks of Japanese comics. And sometimes it has more to do with going for the same sort of undefinable feel that the creator gets when reading manga. With all of that in mind, Nina Matsumoto has one of Del Rey’s early attempts at adding Western-produced comics into their manga line, in the form of Yokaiden.

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Gantz Vol. 1-2

By Hiroya Oku
224 pages, black and white
Published by Dark Horse

Gantz is the perfect example of a title where I knew nothing about the book going into it, save that it was extremely popular and had spawned an animated version that was fairly huge. After reading the first volume, I thought I had an idea of what Gantz was all about and what future volumes would show. And then I sat down and read the second volume—and suddenly I wasn’t so sure about anything that has to do with Gantz.

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Black Jack Vol. 1

By Osamu Tezuka
288 pages, black and white
Published by Vertical, Inc.

With more and more of Osamu Tezuka’s comics being translated into English, it was just a matter of time until Black Jack came back into print. With just two volumes of material originally translated and out of print for years, I knew about Tezuka’s stories of a renegade surgeon more by reputation than anything else. Now that Vertical is bringing its 17-volume run into English? I have to admit, I’m ready to go under the knife a few more times.

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Black Lagoon Vol. 1-2

By Rei Hiroe
208 pages, black and white or color
Published by Viz

Don’t judge a book by its cover. We’ve all heard that adage before, but sometimes it’s hard to not do just that anyway. Well, I freely admit that sometimes I fall into that trap, too. In the case of Black Lagoon from Viz, I looked at its covers with a hot woman holding a gun on both volumes and thought to myself, "Ugh, another violent titillation comic." But a little while later my curiosity got the better of me—and boy, was I glad I gave this series a chance.

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Official Casebook Vol. 1

304 pages, black and white
Published by Del Rey

One of my favorite games for the Nintendo DS is the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney series. In it, you control a flamboyantly goofy lawyer named Phoenix Wright, who always seems to be defending people whose case is nothing sort of hopeless. The game has a great sense of humor, as well lots of fun little character interactions. So the idea of a manga Phoenix Wright? This sounded right up my alleyway.

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