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 What I'm Reading - December 2008
Written by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
I love getting review copies, but I've gotten a bit backlogged lately, what with work and the holidays. Since my current stack of unread manga includes the newest volumes from several series I've read and reviewed recently, I'm going to write a round-up review so the poor books don't go neglected any longer. Read on for quick looks at seven of VIZ Media's recent and upcoming shoujo offerings: vol. 3 (the series finale) of Time Stranger Kyoko and vol. 8 of The Gentlemen's Alliance † (both by Arina Tanemura), vol. 14 of Tail of the Moon (Rinko Ueda), vol. 3 of Haruka - Beyond the Stream of Time (Tohko Mizuno), vol. 5 of Wild Ones (Kiyo Fujiwara), vol. 12 of Kaze Hikaru (Taeko Watanabe), and vol. 4 of B.O.D.Y. (Ao Mimori).
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Time Stranger Kyoko vol. 3 (SERIES FINALE)
Arina Tanemura
Translated by Mary Kennard and adapted by Heidi Vivolo
I've expressed my concern about the pacing in this series before, and the author's notes in this volume confirm that Tanemura herself chose to end the series suddenly and without proper development. Given those constraints, I think she actually wrapped things up pretty well: she chose to bypass the search for most of the remaining Strangers (by page 5 Kyoko's figured out a quick way to ID them and has summoned them to help awaken Princess Ui) and devoted most of the final volume to Kyoko's relationships with her two bodyguards and the mystery of Ui's lifelong sleep. The ending wasn't at all what I expected, and I think the series ends much more strongly than it began.
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The Gentlemen's Alliance † vol. 8
Arina Tanemura
Translated and adapted by Tetsuichiro Miyaki
I'm not generally a huge fan of Tanemura's work; for whatever reason, it just doesn't do much for me. However, The Gentlemen's Alliance † is the most interesting title of hers that I've tried; I don't have the clearest idea of what's going on, since this is only the second volume I've read, but it seems to have a darker undercurrent than her other work, which offsets the fluffy-shoujo feel that her stories often have. There are some specific things that bother me here: first, the twins so identical that no one realizes there are actually two of them (even though their hair is completely different in color--usually I suspend my disbelief over anime/manga hair, but come on), and second, the sporadically-skeevy gender dynamics, although since at least one character seems to have been driven insane by them, I guess we can't say they've gone unnoticed/unpunished. But despite those things, if someone were to ask me to recommend a Tanemura series, this is probably the one I'd choose.
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Tail of the Moon vol. 14
Rinko Ueda
Translated and adapted by Tetsuichiro Miyaki
Tail of the Moon is winding down, and it continues to be a good read. (Someday I'll have a chance to go back and read it from the beginning, as opposed to only being familiar with vol. 11-14.) I don't have much to say about it that I haven't before, though: it's enjoyable and remarkably accessible, and the manga-ka seems very respectful of the historical events that intersect with the story.
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Haruka - Beyond the Stream of Time vol. 3
Tohko Mizuno
Translated by Stanley Floyd, HC Language Solutions
Volume 3 was a vast improvement on volume 2 (which was made up almost entirely of side stories and flashbacks--a strange choice for a second volume). Haruka is based on a video game, but that's not readily obvious from the manga. The story is far from groundbreaking ("modern girl gets sucked back in time/to a fantasy world to fulfill some kind of Destiny" has been done many times, and this isn't the best example), but it's not a bad way to spend half an hour.
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Wild Ones vol. 5
Kiyo Fujiwara
Translated and adapted by Mai Ihara
This is the second volume of Wild Ones that I've read, and it's still not making much of an impression on me. There're some fun moments, like the yakuza gang trying desperately to look like a normal household when Sachie's class arrives for a Christmas party, but far too much of the volume is devoted to Sachie and Rakuto trying to figure out and/or suppress their feelings for each other, which seems a bit like backsliding after volume 4.
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Kaze Hikaru vol. 12
Taeko Watanabe
Translated and adapted by Mai Ihara
I continue to really like Kaze Hikaru, a historical series about the Shinsengumi. It has one of the most believable cross-dressing protagonists I've come across (Sei, a girl disguising herself as a young male warrior), and smoothly mixes lightheartedness with very serious events. This volume includes the material that came out as the series was switching publishers in Japan, and the story was reworked with that in mind, so it's a good place for newcomers to jump in if they feel like giving the series a try.
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B.O.D.Y. vol. 4
Ao Mimori
Translated by Joe Yamazaki and adapted by Kelly Sue DeConnick
B.O.D.Y. continues to be just a bit more palatable with each new volume. Ryunosuke's history as a host is still coming back to bite him (and Ryoko) in this volume, in the form of another teenage host following him around and trying to find out what makes him tick, but vol. 4 doesn't have any insanely over-the-top moments that make me set the book down and roll my eyes, so that's an improvement. Honestly, if Ryoko would stop with the constant stream of "but I can't tell [Ryunosuke/best friend/whoever]" whenever something happens or she has a revelation, most of what frustrates me about this series might disappear. But then, it'd probably take the drama with it.
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