Pam's Book Log

2 May, 2004

There's a whole whack of them, 'cause when I had the flu for a week, it was too hard to read books without pictures. Comic reviews for this month are: Astro City: Family Album (book 3), Saiyuki 1, Boys Over Flowers 4-5, Gravitation 3-5, Pet Shop of Horrors 4-5, Lone Wolf and Cub 18, FAKE 6, and Naruto 1. (I also read the first book of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, but that needs its own entry.)

This is the third Astro City book. Like Vol. 1, this is not a novel, but a collection of short stories. Three of the five stories (comprising five of seven chapters) are family-related. The first, "Welcome to Astro City" is about a mundane man who has just moved to the city of super-heroes, and his reflections on how living in the midst of the extraordinary events which routinely happen there will affect his children. It's not particularly deep, but it has a nice message. The next ("Everyday Life" + "Adventures in Other Worlds") takes a look at the life of a child superhero (similar to a child celebrity, I think). While the story is cute on the whole, it suffers from the fact that the super-kid's Fantastic Four-esque super-family act like a bunch of morons. At least some of them are supposed to be super-geniuses, so it must be a case of plot-induced stupidity. The third family story ("Serpent's Teeth"[1] + "Father's Day") is much better. In this one, Jack-in-the-Box (specializes in fighting street crime) suffers visitations from three alternate versions of his future son, on the night he learns that his wife is pregnant with their first child. Each of the three sons is a nightmare, and their appearance causes Jack to consider the conflicts between crime-fighting and raising a family.

I preferred the two non-family tales to the family-themed ones; this is probably just because I'm single and child-free, so I can't really identify with the situations. "Show 'Em All" is my favorite in the book--it's about a cranky old coot who turns to crime (bank robbing, in particular) after he's forced to retire (due to age) from his profession as an inventor. I just loved seeing the old guy put one over on all the younger, stronger, stronger, faster super-heroes, not just once, but twice!

the final story in the book, "In the Spotlight," owes more to Who Framed Roger Rabbit? than to superhero comics. It tells the story of a cartoon lion who was accidentally brought to life by an evil genius' raygun, back in the 1940s. It's the usual story of fame and fortune followed by waning popularity and the inevitable decline into booze, drugs, and scandal, concluding with recovery and a modest career as owner-operator of a theme restaurant. Very Behind the Music.

[1] Ooo, a King Lear reference. How erudite!

Previous Astro City books

I picked this up because I was intrigued by the cover art: a blond man dressed in a traditional Buddhist monk's costume, holding a revolver, and looking like he's about to get medieval on somebody's ass. I just had to know what that was all about.

Saiyuki, also known as Journey to the West [1] is a classic Chinese story about a monk who travels to India in the company of several supernatural beings (such as Son Goku, the Monkey King), in order to get a sacred text and bring it back to China. It's extremely well-known, and one finds references to it all over. It seems to fill the same cultural niche in Asia as the story of King Arthur does in the English-speaking world.

Unsurprisingly, Saiyuki the manga is based on the classic story. The setting is a world in which humans and youkai (roughly meaning "supernatural beings" or "demons") live together, and where magic and technology exist side-by-side. "Side-by-side," not "together." Combining magic and technology is bad juju, and the source of the plot. While humans and youkai had long lived together in harmony, recently the youkai have begun to go mad, violently attacking humans and eating them. The reason for this? Somewhere far to the west, somebody is attempting to combine magic and science to resurrect a legendary, ancient, and very nasty youkai. The resulting bad mojo has infected the world on a spiritual level, resulting in unbalance and bloodthirsty, insane supernatural beings.

The gods/aspects of the Buddha/whatever are not down with this, and have charged the priest on the cover, Genjyo Sanzo, with the task of finding the person (or persons) responsible for this state of affairs, and stopping them. His traveling companions are three powerful youkai who (for reasons not yet fully divulged) are immune to the madness which has overcome the rest of their race. The three are: the cheerful and immature Son Goku (the Monkey King in JttW), the lecherous rogue Sha Gojyo (a Kappa demon in the original), and the quiet, reserved Cho Hakkai (the least similar to his JttW counterpart, who is a loud and kind of stupid (IIRC) pig-demon). Skill-wise, they're your typical adventuring party (cleric, fighter, fighter, mage).

In terms of the main plot, not much happens in this volume. Basically, the protagonists travel west, run into groups of enemies, and fight them. That's okay, though; the point here is to introduce the plot, show something of the setting, and establish the characters and how they relate to one another. If things continue like this (travel, fight, travel, fight, travel, fight), I'll get bored with the series, but there are several hints that the story may take a more character-based turn. Flashbacks indicate that each of the protagonists has an interesting backstory, and there is some tension between the villain and her number on henchman which will undoubtedly become relevant. Also, the setting interests me--I'm a sucker for SF which contains both technology and magic, so the Saiyuki world is right up my alley.

The book itself is a cut above Tokyopop's typical output. It contains bonus artwork (four glossy color pictures of the main characters, and several black-and-white ones), and translation notes explaining cultural and literary references. I'm a big fan of translation notes.

One thing I'm curious about: I've seen this series described as shoujo (i.e. marketed towards chicks). Far be it for me to dispute Japanese marketing categories, but from what I see in Volume 1, Saiyuki has far more in common with guy-oriented action manga like Trigun and Hellsing than it does with any other shoujo I've read. So, what's up with that?

[1] Henceforth, "Saiyuki" will be used to refer to the comic, and "Journey to the West," or "JttW" to the source material.

So, first, somebody at Viz should be beaten with sticks for putting out such a low-quality book as Volume 4. It's filled with typos and egregious translation mistakes. For example, at one point, a character says, "I apologize," when it is clear from context that she's saying, "Apologize," as a command. There's even one page printed out of order. Hire a freaking copy editor, guys!

Now, on to the content. A lot takes place in these two volumes. Tsukushi's idol, Shizuka Todo, leaves for law school in France, and Tsukushi's crush, Rui, follows her. Tsukasa Domyoji seems to regret his assault on Tsukushi in Vol. 3 (actually, in retrospect, it looks like he regretted it as soon as it happened), and asks her out for a date. However, he does so in such an incompetent manner that it ends up as one of those situations where one person thinks he's going on a date and the other person thinks she isn't. It ends up as one of the Worst Quasi-Dates Ever, but Tsukushi and Tsukasa have a bonding moment while they're stuck in an elevator. This, I think, will turn out to be a significant turning point in their relationship. It's certainly the case that, afterwards, their mutual hostility is dialed way down. With Shizuka and Rui out of the picture there's room for a new character or two, and we get a deceptively innocent-looking girl, Sakurako Sanjo, who makes friends with Tsukushi only to betray her in a shocking manner.

While I was walking home from the bus stop this evening, I was trying to think of a way to describe the evolving relationship between Domyoji and Tsukushi in a fairly concise manner, and found myself failing horribly. But, having thought it out in a long, drawn-out manner, I realized, "Hey, they're kind of like Eliza Bennett and Darcy." Upon further consideration, I realized that they're not "kind of" like Elizabeth and Darcy, they're exactly like them. Here I thought this series was a stereotypical high-school romance story, when what it really is is Pride and Prejudice! I may write more about this later, but for now, suffice to say that Tsukushi Makino is Elizabeth Bennet done up as a Japanese high school student, and while Tsukasa Domyoji isn't anywhere near as refined as Fitzwilliam Darcy (after all, Domyoji is just a teenager himself), his social standing is similar, and the progression of his feelings for Tsukushi mirrors that of Darcy's for Elizabeth. It's not like Kamio's plot exactly mirrors Austen's--there's no Mr. Collins or Lady Catherine De Bourgh, let alone anybody resembling George Wickham--but the central relationship and main characters are similar enough that I'd bet money that Austen's classic had some influence on the manga author.

(Previous volumes of Boys over Flowers

I know I said I wasn't going to read this any more, but I had the flu, and didn't have the energy to read books without pictures, so I went to Barnes and Noble, and their manga section sucks. Apart from Nausicaa, this was the only thing they had that even remotely interested me. So.

Anyhow, the series is still trashy and melodramatic, but most of the issues which turned me off in the first two books are addressed in these subsequent volumes. With further character development, the main characters' relationship begins to make more sense, and some of my interpretations of their actions in books 1 and two turn out to have been mistaken. So, better than previously thought; I doubt I'll buy the next book immediately after it comes out, but I'll probably get it at some point. Maybe the next time I get the flu.

This series continues to be good. My inner goth is fascinated by the mysterious Count D, and several of the stories in these two volumes provide some information about what he is, what he does, and so forth. Naturally, the information raises more questions without really answering any, but I'm getting a clearer picture of what it is I don't know, at least. In spite of the suspicious name, I'm almost certain he's not a vampire--the story "Dracula" in Vol. 4 involves vampires, and D distinguishes himself from them. "Dual," in Vol. 5, indicates that D may not, in fact, be the prime mover behind all the incidents related to his shop. Rather, he is something of a steward or caretaker for the various mystical creatures, and placing animals with people is part of this job.

My favorite story of the lot is "Day Nursery," wherein D babysits Detective Leon's little brother. The kid is kind of autistic, but while he can't communicate with humans, he's somehow able to communicate with D's "pets," and see their human-ish forms. The pet shop provides him with a whole new world to explore. And, D helps Leon become more comfortable with his new role as this brother's guardian. (Also, the story provides the detective with some much-needed three-dimensionalization. Up until now, he's pretty much been just a standard lovable lunkhead.)

(Previous volumes of Pet Shop of Horrors)

This is a pretty lackluster addition to the Lone Wolf and Cub opus. It's not bad, but it's pretty much the same old same old--some new bunch of guys comes after Ogami Itto and Daigoro, Itto kills them all. At this point, I feel like the series is treading water. Hopefully it will pick up again.

(Previous volumes of Lone Wolf and Cub)

After putting poor Ryo through the emotional wringer in the previous volume, Matoh gives him a break in this one. Much as I am a fan of the psychodrama, he deserves the respite, so that's okay.

Two stories in this book. The first has the guys hunting for a creepy serial killer who kidnaps teenage girls, then kills them and cuts their hands off to keep as souvenirs/trophies. And, uh-oh, unbeknownst to all, the killer is stalking Carol. Of the four main characters, Carol's the only one who's not a fight-y type (Dee and Ryo are professionals, and Bikky's a recovering juvenile delinquent), so she's a good candidate for helpless victim-hood. So, I was happy when she played an active role in her own escape. You go, girl!

The second story is a counterpart to the flashback story in Vol. 3. This time, it's a look at Dee's teenage years. In some ways, it's standard cop-story material: kid's father (or father-figure, in Dee's case) is a cop who gets killed by a criminal, kid is inspired to follow in dad's footsteps and become a cop when he grows up. But: what if the father-figure was a dirty cop, and the kid found out? If the role model is severely tarnished, how does the kid come to the decision to follow in his footsteps (career-wise, not corruption-wise)? And how does he feel about it twelve years later, when he's all grown up?

Looking back over the earlier volumes, I really appreciate how the relationship between the main characters has developed. From being strangers with a liking for each other, they've grown a deep friendship which, in many ways, transcends the romantic tension which has been there from the beginning.

(Previous volumes of FAKE)

It's the world of a billion zillion ninjas! Naruto takes place in a world where, it seems, everybody is a ninja. The main character, one Naruto, is a twelve-year-old orphan whose dream is to become the greatest ninja in his town. First, however, he's got to graduate from ninja school, and Naruto isn't exactly a model student. More like the class clown. Nevertheless, he manages to pass his exit exam (in an unorthodox manner), and moves on to the next level of his education.

This manga is oriented at a rather younger audience than most of the rest of what I read--more like the Dragon Ball Z level, say twelve-ish. (Some of the fights are a bit bloody in a cartoonish manner, and there's some brief cartoonish nudity, but nothing really serious.) So, it's pretty lightweight. But, it's fun, the story's appealing (reject kid works hard to excel and gain everybody's respect--always a classic), and the art is nice. It's not one I'm going to run out and buy as soon as it comes out, but I might get more next time I have the flu. It would probably be great if I was ten or twelve.