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 What I'm Reading - March 2009
Written by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane
It's been a busy year for me so far, and VIZ is extremely generous with review copies (which is great!), so I'm taking a break from regular-length reviews to do another round-up of new and upcoming installments of titles for which I've recently read and reviewed earlier volumes. This batch includes: vol. 8 of Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden (Yuu Watase), vol. 10 of S.A. (Maki Minami), vol. 3 of Captive Hearts (Matsuri Hino), vol. 10 of Crimson Hero (Mitsuba Takanashi), vol. 12 of Inubaka: Crazy For Dogs (Yukiya Sakuragi), and vol. 10 of La Corda d'Oro (Yuki Kure).
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Fushigi Yûgi: Genbu Kaiden vol. 8
Yuu Watase
Translated by Lillian Olsen (no adaptation credit given)
I'm still enjoying this series much more than anything else I've read by Yuu Watase (in the "wow, this is surprisingly good" way, not the "still not great, but at least not bad" way). It has incredibly spoilery back cover copy, unfortunately, but I guess that may be influenced by the series being a prequel to the original Fushigi Yûgi; I'm given to understand that anyone who's read that understands how this story is going to end. Or maybe not--I don't actually know the ending, and I'm glad of it, even if there are some very heavy-handed clues. Anyway, I don't really want to discuss any significant plot points here, for the sake of anyone reading this batch of mini reviews who may still want to read the series from the beginning, so I'll just say "still good!" to the people who've been reading it all along and "worth checking out!" to the people who haven't. This volume will be available in early April.
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S.A. vol. 10
Maki Minami
Translated by JN Productions and adapted by Amanda Hubbard
Just when I thought S.A. was never going to move Kei and Hikari's relationship forward at all, volume 10 proved me wrong. It's a halting sort of progress, since Hikari is still Hikari (read: not very bright, and determined to turn absolutely everything remotely connected to Kei into a challenge of some sort), and most of the volume's plot developments are as predictable as always, but...finally having actual momentum made it kind of endearing. Other notes: the back cover copy is unusually misleading, and from context I think the first chapter suffers from Hikari and Kei having a misunderstanding that doesn't translate well (the eternal problem of "suki" meaning both "like" and "love"--I think the translation challenge there is self-evident). Overall, while S.A. still really isn't my thing, this might be my favorite volume so far. It'll be available in May.
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Captive Hearts vol. 3
Matsuri Hino
Translated and adapted by Andria Cheng
I enjoyed volume 3 of Captive Hearts quite a bit more than volume 2. I still don't think it's a remarkable piece of work, and it still doesn't have the draw of Hino's later Vampire Knight (which isn't a series I'm into, but I see its appeal), but this volume delves deeper into the characters' reactions to the curse binding Megumi's family to Suzuka's, and into the conflict between their unnatural, involuntary connection and their real feelings for each other. It also has fewer distracting subplots, so the focus remains more on the main story; even the two-chapter flashback to the curse's origins is informative rather than distracting. Volume 3 is available now.
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Crimson Hero vol. 10
Mitsuba Takanashi
Translated and adapted by Naoko Amemiya
I don't generally get caught up in manga about sports or games (Hikaru no Go is the only really striking exception--I like that one a lot), but there's still something special about a series where the creator really nails a character or team's real passion for whatever they're playing. In Crimson Hero it's volleyball, and while I haven't read enough of the series to follow all of the characters' different relationships, I think Takanashi has nailed that aspect. There's a romantic element here too, which is developed successfully without it overshadowing the importance of the game. This is one of the few times when I've read a manga where two characters are in love and aren't getting fully involved with each other for reasons that actually make sense. Volume 10 deals a bit with Nobara and Yushin's handling of their unofficial feelings for each other while still keeping the readers' attention firmly on the girls' volleyball team's upcoming matches (particularly against one very tough opponent)--very nicely handled indeed. Available now.
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Inubaka: Crazy For Dogs vol. 12
Yukiya Sakuragi
Translated by Maya Robinson and adapted by Ian Reid
The main storyline in this volume centers around Suguri and her dog, Lupin, participating in a K-9 freestyle dance contest, mainly to promote Woofles. Unsurprisingly, her main competition, a talented dancer named Yasmin, is similarly backed by Woofles' competition, Wan Kaw. (A more serious storyline starts towards the end of the volume.) This is only my second volume of Inubaka, and my impression of vol. 11 had been that it was almost entirely about the cuteness of dogs (and really, the dogs are still the main draw), so I was kind of surprised by casual references to Suguri taking a pole dancing class and the blatant use of sex appeal during the contest; neither of these things is handled graphically, especially by manga's usual standards, but...they had nothing to do with dogs. Ah, thwarted expectations. There was also a reference to Suguri having once been kidnapped, which was mildly intriguing. I doubt I'm ever going to go back and read the first ten volumes of this series, though, so I guess it'll be a mystery forever. But the important thing is: the dogs are still cute. This volume is scheduled for release in April.
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La Corda d'Oro vol. 10
Yuki Kure
Translated and adapted by Mai Ihara
This isn't the final volume of La Corda d'Oro, but the end is clearly on its way; the entire volume is devoted to the music competition's Final Selection, and more importantly, to the characters' inner thoughts as their time bonding with and competing against each other draws to a close. There's only one small (very small) twist in here, so I won't spoil it. Like so much of the series, this is basically a reflection on the love of music; there's no compelling drama, but it's enjoyable enough. Available in April.
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