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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane What does it take to find your true inner self? Zen's memory has been wiped, and he can't remember if he's a killer or a hero. And a lot of people will do anything they can to keep it that way. Zen's unearthly charm attracts a veritable rogues' gallery. A bounty hunter becomes obsessed enough to become his new partner, while the daughter of a general treats him like some sort of guru. But when he meets a mysterious doctor who may know him from the past, Zen learns that the secret of his lost memory is definitely more sinister than saintly. At least once while I was reading volume 1 of Blank Slate I had to stop and look at the cover again to be sure it said "Shojo Beat Manga". The fact that my main thought at the end of the volume was "but where was the shoujo?" is, perhaps, its own commentary on how engaging I found (or didn't find) the book. That doesn't mean it's lacking an interesting premise, though, just that it's not structured in a way that immediately sucked me in. The main character, Zen, is repeatedly referred to as the worst kind of criminal, and is viewed almost exclusively through the eyes of other characters (starting with Russo, the bounty hunter assigned to take him down in the first chapter). By his own admission, Zen has no memory and no real emotions other than a compulsion to destroy--which would intrigue me more if Zen himself weren't so blatantly uninterested in his own history. One thing that Kanno is very upfront about in her author's notes is that the first chapter in this volume is not the first chapter that was serialized. (Her explanation: "Chapter 4 of the bonus episodes has been included as Chapter 1", and the original first chapter is not in the book at all; she wasn't initially expecting the story to be serialized, and in retrospect felt that it didn't mesh well with the later material.) This leads me to wonder if she still hadn't quite figured out what she wanted to do with the story as these chapters were coming out, and if later volumes will be stronger. The artwork isn't anything to write home about, but it's perfectly competent and fairly realistic. Like the story, nothing about it makes me think "shojo", but I keep reminding myself that what demographic a manga gets slotted into depends as much on the magazine it runs in as it does on the content (Blank Slate was originally a Hakusensha title). Verdict: not a brilliant first volume, but an interesting premise that could have potential. Review copy provided by VIZ Media. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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