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 What I'm Lookin' At, PART TWO
Written by Park Cooper
Eyeshield 21 23 and 24 (Viz): Eyeshield 21 is not for me, but I can explain to you what to expect: Eyeshield 21 has slightly less relation to real football than Shaolin Soccer has to real soccer. If someone had explained that to me from the start, I might have dealt with what I found in Eyeshield 21’s pages a little better... except that the art is crowded and overly intense. The poses, faces, and anatomy are extremely unreal and cartoonish in a harsh way. Also... why are Japanese guys playing football instead of soccer or baseball? Isn’t that kind of like kids in Dallas playing hockey? Sure, there are rinks in Dallas—it even has its own team (or did last I checked). But... Uh... I mean... I’m trying to picture a bunch of different official teams of kids in France playing each other at baseball... uh... You can’t help but ask yourself... do they do that? “And that’s why it can sometimes be very difficult to jump into something on volume 23, no matter how good it is,” says Wife Barbara.
Gimmick 4 (Viz): Wife Barbara and I got into a long talk, at least part of which involved Gimmick, over men and women and a love of world-building vs. a love of characterization. In the end, men and women can have these loves in any quantity, but there may be a slight statistical leaning in men for world-building, James Bond gadgets, and super amazing abilities and talents, and a slight statistical leaning in women for characterization, personalities, charisma and how charisma is reacted to, and communication. When compared with each other. Slight. Small. Very tiny. Only noticeable when you look at large groups and tendencies, not at all valid on a case-by-case individual basis. Having said all that, I like Gimmick better than Barb does. It’s about a special effects and makeup genius and his stuntman buddy who solve problems for people like the series/movie FX, increasingly involving the OTHER apprentice of the make-up artist who taught our hero his craft, who has apparently turned to eeeevil. I must admit, however, that there could be more of an emphasis on characterization, and that this trait does not decrease after 3 volumes.
Berserk 25 (Dark Horse/DMP): Okay, Berserk is a strange beast. It’s a very normal fantasy, except it’s INSANELY AND EXTREMELY FOR MATURE READERS ONLY AND NO ONE ELSE. AND I MEAN THE KIND OF MATURE READERS WHO ONLY LIKE THINGS THAT ARE FOR MATURE READERS. It’s like if they had, I dunno, say, an outer-space story, and you’re watching it la la la and suddenly it turns into outer space Snuff Porn. That’s not exactly what happens in this volume, quite, but it does pretty much capture the disconnect one feels. Near the end of Berserk I was like “well this is all right fantasy with some very intense art, but why is there a Mature sticker on the fro-OH SO THAT’S WHY HOLY COW. I’m still not sure how to review Berserk, but I don’t think I’ll request any more... Don’t get me wrong. It’s not that I was personally traumatized. It was the unexpected gear shift that startled me. On one hand, it’s exactly as bad, no better and no worse, than the worst stuff that happens in Battle Royale. EXCEPT FOR ONE THING—in B.R., it’s the teenagers doing horrible stuff to each other, regardless of gender, so what I saw in Berserk volume 25 seems particularly misogynistic. Wife Barbara says: “He came to that decision all on his own, folks, I didn’t help one bit—I stayed the heck out of the potential debate on this one.”
Kurohime 8 (Viz): A supernatural fighting manga that’s mostly here to provide fan service, I find Kurohime to be more likable than Bleach but not actually worth paying 8 dollars a volume for. It’s true that it could just be coming in on volume 8, but while a female fighter on an Orpheus-type quest whose price for power is forgetting various memories of her lost loved one is indeed poignant enough, the execution, storytelling-wise (or is it just story-wise?) just doesn’t grab me.
Hunter x Hunter the anime box set 1 (Viz): I WILL review this. But suffice to say, I like it. It is worth watching. The fact that every episode has to have some sort of structure makes them add to the creator’s original work in a variety of pleasing ways. Barb liked it too. I was very sad when we watched the whole thing, because the best is yet to come in box set number 2. I will add, however, that it’s not so worth watching in English—go for Japanese with subtitles. But that’s about the worst thing I can say for it. It’s imaginative, sometimes whimsical, but also people die real deaths and stuff (but not Dear Old Gang! They’re just way too cool!), unlike many kiddie adventure shows with no sense of danger. Watch it! But while the violence is a lot less than in the manga, it does have an Older Teens type label on it, so parents should be advised to consider the relative merits of this content before watching it with younger viewers. Okay, that’s it, just bein’ responsible because that’s how we roll! Enjoy!
Update: I decided what to do about my Naruto review copy problem I mentioned last week: went out and bought some copies to fill in the gaps. I’m now up to volume 37, with more coming soon via Amazon. Expect reviews soon.
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