Monthly Archives: November 2017

Psycome: Murder Machine and the Catastrophic Athletic Festival

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By Mizuki Mizushiro and Namanie. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Nicole Wilder.

Given the nature of a series like this, which not only revels in its cliches but tries to top them, a volume devoted to a school athletics festival was almost as likely as one devoted to a culture festival (that should be Vol. 6). And for all I said Phycome would never be great in my last review, it comes damn close here, as the descriptions of the bloody, murderous giant melee battles in this book are so much fun I found myself grinning much of the time. Each scene tries to act as either a topper for the previous one or a showcase for the main character’s foibles. The volume is not perfect (the epilogue and ‘continuing chapter’ feel very tacked on and slightly OOC), but for those who want Psycome in its purest form, this is the one to buy.

Maina is on the cover, and gets probably about the most spotlight she’s ever going to here, as she proves once more to be a force of absolute accidental destruction. That said, she’s also grown slightly as a character, and it’s her determination that impresses here, as even the rest of the class admits. Her run during the relay race was a pump your fist moment. As for the others, Ayaka’s yandere sister side is in full force for those who like that (I do not), and there’s a third year DJ/murderer who seems to serve the role of Lee Jordan here, offering commentary and snark over the microphone. Eiri doesn’t have as much to do after getting the spotlight last time, but I will admit that Shamaya chasing her around the field with a giant vibrator may be peak Psycome. Unless it’s Kurumiya forcing herself to talk adorably in a goth loli outfit because she will do anything to win. One of those two.

The real development here, though, is with Renko. Her mother’s arrival forces her to choose between her loyalty to her and her love for Kyousuke, and it’s not as easy a decision as it sounds, given that Renko was literally bred to be an assassin. The battle with the two of them vs. her brother Renji is the action highlight of the volume, even though (as has happened before) Kyousuke’s super endurance seems utterly ludicrous. (We get more hints that his parents “trained” him, and they may show up next time.) And Kyousuke finally is able to resolve his feelings (Eiri is conveniently unconscious when this occurs, and don’t think I didn’t notice that), though the revelation about Renko and Renji’s true nature may put a kibosh on that one.

We’ve only got one more volume left, and I suspect it will be busy wrapping up all the loose ends that have collected. Therefore this may have been the last time we’ll see balls-to-the-wall comedic anarchy from Psycome, which has frequently tried to be over the top gonzo insane but has never quite hit it. It hits it several times here, and that’s why this was the most enjoyable volume to date.

Kitaro: Kitaro’s Strange Adventures

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By Shigeru Mizuki. Released in Japan as “Gegege no Kitaro” by Kodansha and Shogakukan, serialized in various magazines. Released in North America by Drawn & Quarterly. Translated by Zack Davisson.

As the title might suggest, there’s no really big epic in this volume of Kitaro. We get two medium sized adventures and some shorter stories, all of which are decent and show off the strengths of the Kitaro manga and characters. Kitaro not only battles against Chinese yokai who are trying to invade, but also demons from hell. And here we see that Kitaro and his world are something for children – they’re the ones who see and interact with Kitaro, and they’re the ones who are endangered. Occasionally we see an adult with issues, such as the man who has a cursed hand, but mostly in terms of yokai Kitaro is something that adults don’t believe in anymore, but kids know is real. It’s a good way to get the reader on your side, and Mizuki is a master at it.

Though we do see several recurring yokai, this is not the cozy Kitoaro of the 1990s (Neko Musume is mentioned in the accompanying history but nowhere in sight), and there’s honestly only three who are of any importance here: Kitaro, his eyeball father, and the amazingly two-faced Nezumi Otoko, who continues to show off why he became the breakout favorite character of this series. He’s such an appalling ass, showing off that he’ll do anything for money, will say anything to save his own skin, and that he gives up super easily and accepts a horrible fate – he seems to literally have no positive traits whatsover. Except, of course, that he makes the reader laugh. (Kudos to Zack Davisson’s translation here, by the way, which excels at making Nezumi Otoko funny – I lost it at “I’m just a carefree college student!”.)

I will say that it’s very clear that these are being written on the fly, and that Mizuki puts down all the ideas he has on the page, and when he runs out of them the story stops – sometimes quite abruptly. None of these are week-to-week serials with cliffhangers, they’re all self-contained. Sometimes the climaxes are epic, such as the final battle against the Chinese yokai, which is essentially two armies going after one another. And sometimes the need to wrap up a story in order to meet the page count is so obvious it becomes hilarious, and you get moments like “Kitaro fires his machine gun teeth and hits the monster in the nuts”, which is, let’s face it, something that you are highly unlikely to see in most modern manga. Though I think One Piece might give it a shot.

This is another solid volume of Kitaro, and I’m delighted to see the anthology coming out over here, containing stories approved by Mizuki before his death. And while all the stories are about yokai you never quite know what you’re going to get next – I understand the next volume crosses over with Buffy and the Beatles! OK, probably not. But it’s definitely going to be a must read. These are good editions of classic influential manga.

The Empty Box and Zeroth Maria, Vol. 1

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By Eiji Mikage and 415. Released in Japan by ASCII Mediaworks. Released in North America by Yen On. Translated by Luke Baker.

This series intrigued me from the moment it was licensed, as it was one of those rare licenses that didn’t seem to have any hype behind it. This series does not have an anime airing in 2017, nor did it have a manga adaptation. And it’s finished at 7 volumes, meaning those things likely aren’t on the horizon either. The only other equivalent title I can think of is Psycome. Zeroth Maria (as I will call it going forward) is nothing like that, fortunately. Instead, it’s a psychological thriller with supernatural overtones which, by its very nature, has me comparing it to Higurashi When They Cry. We see a group of friends reliving the same period over and over, everything ends in a murder, and one girl is determined to break this fate. That said, Higurashi was more about the friends and their relationships, whereas Zeroth Maria is about the mystery and the plot. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, it’s a good plot.

That’s the titular character on the cover, though you don’t necessarily know she’s connected to the title right off the bat. (Get used to her face – like Strike the Blood, these covers are going to be a one woman show.) We open with her arriving in a classroom as a transfer student, singling out a seemingly normal guy, and saying that she plans to break him. The time looping is not the mystery – it’s laid out on Page 1, and made obvious by the book’s somewhat anachronic order, bouncing back and forth between old loops and new, as we see Kazuki (the seemingly normal guy) deal with this very strange transfer student, try to have fun with his friends, and think about his love for the beautiful Kasumi, a love that is quite strong but he can’t quite remember when it began. As the novel goes on, people are killed by trucks, disappear from the narrative, are killed by trucks some more, are simply stabbed to death brutally, and are killed by trucks even more. Kazuki, though the loops, gains memories, finds the culprit, and together with our heroine, defeats the bad guy.

The characters are few, and you get the sense that one or two of them are there to be generic “best friends”, but the four “main” characters are believably broken. I will admit that the identity of the main villain was not all that hard to guess, but to be fair I don’t think the author was hiding it that hard. If there’s one thing that gives me pause and makes me wary for future volumes, it’s the fact that there ARE future volumes. This was a very good, self-contained single volume mystery novel, resolving all its loose ends, and the fact that there are six more worries me – are we going to be time looping again? Something different? And is this going to be another “how depressing can I make everything?” type of series, as this one had many very depressing moments.

That said, I wholeheartedly recommend THIS volume, provided you don’t mind a bit of death, and think it’s a good series to pick up.