Monthly Archives: March 2012

One Piece, Vol. 61

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By Eiichiro Oda. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

There was a joke going around fandom when Chapter 597 first came out in Japan that on the last page it would say “One Piece – end of Prologue.’ It’s not quite that ridiculous, but the timeskip we see does give us a lot to talk about – and finally, FINALLY reunites Luffy with his crew and his ship. It is appropriate that the cover of this volume is a mirror to Volume 1’s cover.

Before the timeskip comes some nice stuff, though. Having seen the crew bolt from their rescuers in order to reunite with their captain and console him after Ace’s death, it’s somewhat odd to see them immediately turn around and go back. It’s handled beautifully, though, with each crew member getting a flashback that shows just how much Luffy impacted their lives. They really would do anything for their captain, and it shows. Luffy, meanwhile, gets to train with Rayleigh on the island of amazingly dangerous animals, and we learn a little bit more about haki – though really, it still amounts to ‘magic charisma’ when you get right down to it.

(I was vaguely irritated that, in the shot of the Supernovas all encountering danger in the new world, Bonney is the one that’s captured and subdued (twice!). Oda is miles ahead of other Jump authors when it comes to his female characters, but they still tend to get into peril when the situation calls for it. Still, I suppose Akainu and Blackbeard menacing, say, Apoo wouldn’t have had quite the same feel.)

Then, as noted, we jump forward two years, and see what our crew is up to as they reunite on Sabaody. This leads us, inevitably, to the Fakehats. It’s not particularly surprising that someone would be trying to imitate Luffy and friends given their amazing reputation – in fact, it’s a wonder we hadn’t seen it before now. But I wasn’t expecting it to be as funny as this is. The Fakehats are gloriously awful, amounting to not even a bad parody of the people they’re trying to imitate. (Naturally, Luffy, Usopp and Chopper are taken in right away – just because there’s a timeskip doesn’t mean that the characters are THAT different. Everyone keeps their comedic flaws.)

As for the actual crew, so far they seem mostly the same. Which is reassuring. Franky has modified his body to look even more ridiculous. Zoro is missing an eye. Luffy has a scar on his chest. Nami has long hair. Usopp is more muscular. Robin has a new hairstyle. And then there’s Sanji. Who now has his hair… covering his other eye! Oda is delightfully deadpan about this in comments, but it’s also a good sign that he’s still enjoying One Piece more than anybody else.

As the Straw Hat Pirates prepare to go to Fishman Island at last, the Marines are coming out in force to stop them. But hey – allies of the pirates (many of whom are former enemies) come out to help, as we get some more great cameos. Hancock was a given (and is still a glorious parody of shippers – Luffy’s constant “I’m not marrying you” is a stitch), but it was a surprise to see Perona show up to lead Zoro to his crew. And hey, she is all grown up! (I totally ship Zoro/Perona, in a ridiculous way.) Luffy and company are ready to pave the way for a new age of pirates – and everyone wants to see them to it. It’s very heartwarming, especially when compared with Rayleigh’s flashbacks of Gold Roger.

And so – at last – we’re headed for Fishman Island and a new arc. Will it top Impel Down and Marineford? Probably not. But that doesn’t really matter. Just having the crew back together again is enough. We’ve seen how Luffy survives without his crew. Now we’re ready to see them work as a unit again. Bring on the next 60 volumes.

Dengeki Daisy, Vol. 9

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By Kyousuke Motomi. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Comic (“Betsucomi”). Released in North America by Viz.

I haven’t done a full review of Dengeki Daisy in a while. It’s been a very rough stretch recently too, as Kurosaki’s past has finally come out and things have taken a relatively dark turn. It may be disquieting for those who were enjoying this manga for its wacky romantic comedy and physical and verbal abuse of the leads. Luckily, this volume not only wraps up the dramatic arc (while leaving room for more in the future, of course), and gives us plenty of laughs.

Sticking with the dramatic for a moment, I liked how this was resolved. The dramatic thrust wasn’t “how will Kurosaki stop the bad guys all by himself”, it was “how will everyone get Kurosaki to stop destroying himself with guilt”. I was therefore not particularly surprised when I saw that a deus ex machina (or rather, deus ex Akira) had taken care of most of what they had to do. This allows Kurosaki and Teru to return to some form of normalcy. In particular, their reunion is pitch perfect, bringing some comedy back to the series at last, and giving some real heart – you really wish Teru was older so that these two lovebirds could finally get together.

As Teru notes, she *can’t* forgive Kurosaki – because right now, he can’t forgive himself, and as long as he can’t, there’s no point in other people doing so. However, he at least now knows that separating himself from everyone is not the answer, and if anything his love for Teru is even stronger. (In a purely platonic sense, of course – this is lampshaded by Riko, who tells him to give Teru physical comfort without giving her physical comfort, if you know what I mean.)

This leads to the second half of the volume, which might be fairly frustrating for those who were expecting that we were nearing the end of the series. After a brief fight/misunderstanding regarding Teru’s emails, the two decide that they will email each other as themselves from now on, and ‘retire’ Daisy – while at the same time realizing what Daisy did for both of them. It’s really sweet. However, when Riko notes that Kurosaki still hasn’t confessed to her, he notes that after everything that happens, it feels like they’re starting over, and he wants to take his time and get closer to her again. This is known as the “your series is very popular, let’s find some new subplots to add” syndrome. Still, I’m not opposed to it when the cast is as fun as these guys are.

I’ve occasionally compared this series with Black Bird, which also features a heroine who seems to be in constant peril, but could not be more different from Teru. Here in North America, you’d have to actively seek out both series to compare and contrast them, so the chance of a crossover audience is smaller. In Japan, though, both run in the same magazine – Betsucomi. This might make it easier to read both of them – you get Black Bird’s sensuous guilty pleasure for 40 pages or so, then you can flip to Dengeki Daisy’s more dynamic heroine as an antidote. (And then they can read We Were There for crushing despair! Though that ended this month.)

Dengeki Daisy is a riveting romance, with lots of emotional rollercoasters, a great sense of humor, and a heroine who rises above her peril to be strong and likeable. Not to mention a handsome, admirable (if grumpy) hero, who is only called a lolicon about 6 times in this volume, which may be a record low. (It’s in fun, trust me.) Highly recommended.

Manga the Week of 3/14

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After an insane week this week, the manga world has decided to take pity on us. Well, mostly. Except for this giant pile of BL. Let’s start with that.

There’s a bunch of stuff from DMP out next week. There’s a volume of short stories by prolific artist Minase Masara, released under the title Ambiguous Relationship. Beast & Feast has smoking hot police officer on yakuza love (or is it the other way around?), as well as a great title. Blue Sheep Reverie hits Vol. 5. (It used to run in Betsuhana! Honest! Can you picture it next to Otomen? Well, yes, actually…) Depression of the Anti-Romanticist also has a great title, and I think that it needs to have a cage match with Beast & Feast to see who’s best. Lastly, we have another volume of the novel series Yashikiden Demon Princess, which I know little of except it’s by the Vampire Hunter D author.

Kodansha Comics wraps up a series, as we get the final volume of Monster Hunter Orage, from the Fairy Tail creator. We also get the 18th volume of Fairy Tail, which I hope to like more than the 17th.

Vertical has a final volume as well, with Vol. 12 of Twin Spica. This contains Vols. 15 and 16 of the Japanese series, and means I finally get to decide once and for all if it’s heartwarmingly uplifting or crushingly melancholy. I suspect I’m going to pick the former. If you don’t get this series, you missed out on something special.

Viz has two Pokemon volumes. I know I give these short shrift here, but… if you like Pokemon, get these! That’s about all I can say.

Lastly, in non-manga news, Fantagraphics is finally releasing the first in a series of collections of the comic strip Nancy, by Ernie Bushmiller. This isn’t the first chronologically – like Carl Barks, they’re picking and choosing what years to begin with – but that doesn’t really matter. The comic we all thought was even duller than Garfield as a kid turns out, when our parents were kids, to have a certain zen brilliance that’s hard to sum up in words. If you like classic comic strips, check this out and be amazed what one artist did with just minimalist art and vaudeville gags.

So what would Sluggo buy this week?