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 What I'm Lookin' At: Late September 2009
Written by Park Cooper
DragonBall: VizBig Edition v4.
Viz Media
IT CAME FROM 1984: This giant-size omnibus edition comprises what we would normally think of as volumes 10 through 12 of DragonBall. I’d already read DragonBall Z, but DragonBall was fairly cool too, being the adventures of little-kid Son Goku. It’s time for the big martial-arts tournament, but right near the end, someone releases one of the biggest threats Earth has ever known: Piccolo, the demon king (although some of us know that what he really is is rather more complicated than being a “demon king”). Can Piccolo gain the seven Dragon Balls and use them to wish back the one thing that would make him even more dangerous: his long-passed youthful vigor? Well, many of us know the answer already, but this is fun for shonen fans whether they came in on DBZ like I did, or whether they know nuthin’ ‘bout nuthin’ that’s going on, or if you just want to revisit the series. You’ve got to admit, three volumes for 17.99 seems pretty fair... If I was giving out grades, here, this would surely be some kind of A... Oh, I almost forgot to mention that a big part of the fun is that, as always with this series, adapter Gerard Jones is at the wheel. Yay!
The Antique Gift Shop v8
Yen Press
This manhwa is not for me. In it, there’s an antique gift shop. Bun-Nyuh works there. I don’t think she wants to... there’s magical stuff going on. Welcome to the Korean version of xxxHolic. Maybe.
This volume, a Nepalese goddess shows up for a visit, and she’s good for business... but she’s also trouble.
Everyone’s insanely pretty (except Bun-Nyuh, who’s merely kinda pretty), everything’s magical... there’s a mermaid, and someone who’s kinda cursed to eat and eat until she dies... we have to figure out (in the next volume) what to do about that... If you like xxxHolic, Nightmare Inspector, and that sort of “let’s open a mystical business (or temple, or move in with a music teacher) from which we can help magically messed-up people with their problems” type of stuff, you might like this manhwa, because it’s another one of those...
Croquis Pop v5
Yen Press
I don’t think this manhwa is for me. I’m not sure, because I don’t have a handy summary (or indeed any summary) of what this series is about. There are these magic-type people or something called Croquers. They seem to have reality-altering/shaping powers. A created-world is called (I think) a croquis, you see (if I’m right...). I think Da-Il is the main protagonist... he’s special, a little like Naruto seems sort of dorky when you meet him, but he has hidden potential...
To paraphrase the philosopher Towelie, “I have no idea what’s going on right now.” This doesn’t look like the worst magical adventure ever, but I can’t get into it because what has gone before in the previous four volumes is such a blank to me. If you just can’t get enough of this sort of thing (if you’re insane for Clamp’s Tsubasa, for example), and you want to go check this out from the beginning, you have my permission, because it might turn out to be not half bad. But at this point, it’s pretty hard to say.
Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning v8
Yen Press
I don’t think this manga is for me, either. Again, I’m not sure, because I have no idea what’s going on. Everyone has guns, and they seem to have extremely advanced combat skills. Not NARUTO advanced, just Gunsmith Cats advanced, but still fairly advanced. There’s this guy named Kanon whom we’re all trying to kill. He, in turn, is having trouble killing us because Team Good Guy is “his own kind,” and he has some limitations about killing his own kind (a limitation he’s trying to overcome). It may involve the Blade Children, which, and this is just me taking a wild guess, might be kids who also have future killing-machine-potential. It also might involve God and the devil, although I THINK that might just be a metaphor we’re tossing around a lot, not sure.
If you love gun battles and cerebral strategizin’, and human killin’ machines and stuff, Spiral: The Bonds of Reasoning might be an even better bet, in my opinion, than Croquis Pop. But I think we’ll all have to take a look at earlier volumes to be sure.
Angel Diary v9
Yen Press
From the makers of Demon Diary comes Angel Diary... who could have seen that comin’? Unlike Demon Diary, though, there’s some female romantic leads this time, apparently...
Basically, one important angel has made a friend or ally or something with a demon, and must help protect said demon from other angels. It’s not like this big Miltonic thing—the princess of Heaven lives in a little bungalow on Earth... it’s just, you know, angels, demons... all of which wish that our protagonist liked them best... as a friend, or, you know, whatever... in other words, this is a manhwa about ZOMG emotional relationship-based intensity. And to make it more interesting, there’s angels and demons.
This manhwa is not for me. Everyone’s pretty, except for the protagonist, who is just kinda cute in her (her?) way... if you like this sort of thing, here’s more.
Legend v5
Yen Press
Yet another manhwa from the creators of Demon Diary and Angel Diary...
A thousand years ago, there was this sword that was a big deal known as the Seven-Blade Sword. Basically, imagine a sword with six extra kinda-boomerang-shaped blades coming off the main blade, three per main edge. Okay, the guy whose destiny was involved with that sword died, but now he’s back as the leader of Team Good Guys. He revisits the old days in flashback dreams of the past, and it appears other members of Team Good Guys are starting to have similar experiences, since they’re reincarnated too. Anyway, we’re all on a quest to collect the seven scattered blades of the Seven Blade Sword, who seem to have taken on human form and don’t want Team Good Guys to re-assemble the Sword. I can see where they’re coming from, but there’s demons involved somehow, so clearly we need to do it anyway. Oh, and each blade has a different power.
Get the idea? It’s one of those... Saiyuki meets Inu-Yasha... with more swords. Oh yes. There will be swords. Or blades, anyway. If you like this sort of thing, there’s a chance you might like this. Although, really, HAVE you read Saiyuki and Inu-Yasha? If not, I suggest you go give those a shot first...
You’re So Cool v4
Yen Press
Okay, this is a romance manhwa. Here’s what it’s like: remember Kare Kano? Imagine that as a manhwa TURNED UP TO 11. THEN TURNED UP AGAIN TO LIKE 15.
Nan-Woo is a very goofy girl. She looks goofy, too, although kinda cute. She wanted a super-hot boyfriend, and boy, did she find one: Seung-Ha. She made him be her boyfriend in the last three volumes by, if this volume is anything to go by, deciding they were gonna be a couple and just not taking no for an answer: she sort of stubbornly annoyed him into it.
Basically, Seung-Ha is Arima from Kare Kano, and Nan-Woo is your typical Korean high school romantic heroine—the most stubborn being on earth. Deep down, Seung-Ha likes her, because she’s emotionally very tough and resilient. Seung-Ha, on the other hand, is emotionally brittle— since he’s, you know, the Korean Arima, he has a biological mother (who's entering back into his life) who’s messed-up and nothing but trouble, or at least that’s how he remembers her...
There’s also a side-romance between Nan-Woo’s pretty brother and a male friend of his... those two are THIS CLOSE to realizing that they like each other so much they don’ know wha’ to do, but they aren’t officially there yet this volume.
If you liked Kare Kano up until the terrible ending, I feel compelled to tell you that you actually might indeed like You’re So Cool, as long as you don’t mind a little Korean déjà vu.
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