Category Archives: reviews

Neon Genesis Evangelion: Comic Tribute

2 Replies

By Various Artists, based on the franchise created by khara and GAINAX. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten direct to tankobon. Released in North America by Dark Horse.

We’ve been seeing more and more of these doujinshi anthologies over here in North America. Quite common in Japan, both official product and fan-produced, doujinshi in this case doesn’t mean porn featuring the characters (at least not yet; Kadokawa just announced another Eva spinoff and I think they’re running out of other ways to make it work), but getting other artists around the office to draw parody comics making fun of said franchise, with the tacit approval of the creators. Given that Anno is quite happy making fun of his own work, an anthology like this was probably inevitable. But the question is, is it readable?

evangelioncomic

Well, yes, but only if you’re a hardcore Evangelion fan. As you’d expect, this volume makes absolutely no attempt to interest casual readers, and relies on everyone knowing not only the series itself but also the fandom and cliches regarding said series. The very first story involves the pilots dealing with their public approval rating dropping because they’re whiny and morose, there’s mocking of the fake “episode 26”, Shinji Ikari Raising Project, and even the live-action Eva that was in production at one point. Everyone is equally skewered, though admittedly Shinji gets the majority of the abuse here. And fear not, Eva fans who like to admire the girls, there’s lots of fanservice here, from normal “Ooooh, pretty girl” art from the Macross character designer all the way to leeringly horrible “Look, boobs!” parody as Misato and Ritsuko try to get Shinji to study by dressing in increasingly skimpy outfits.

That said, I feel pretty safe in saying this isn’t for everyone. It’s almost entirely comedy, with only the author of Loveless, Yun Kouga, providing a serious character study towards the end. Much of the humor relies on knowing the other titles the artist is famous for, which is fine if it’s say, the Sgt. Frog artist (who did the cover, of course) but verges towards incomprehensibility when you see artists such as Keiichi Tanaka and Tony Takazaki clearly making use of their own stylistic humor… which is lost on me. Given this is edited by Carl Horn, some liner notes might have been appreciated. Then again, given there’s a Sambo joke towards the end, maybe they were better off without them.

All that said, I did laugh quite a bit while reading this, even if it was sometimes “what the hell, this is so stupid!” laughter. Easily the best bits in here are the ones by Yushi Kawata and Yukito, “Neon Genesis Revolutionary Legend Evangelion”. They get three short chapters all to themselves, so I suspect the editors liked them as well, and have just the right amount of humor, snark, and insanity. Yoko Sanri’s Eva-san (the author of B Gata H Kei) is also fun, an amusing 4-koma Eva that feels like a relaxing breeze amidst all the loud Osaka comedy in this that tries a bit too hard.

I think Evangelion fans will like this, but even for them it may be a bit of a risk, as it’s simply so diffuse. The sort of book you’d describe as madcap. But recommended to Eva fans anyway, provided you don’t mind a lot of making fun of the cast. Oh yes, and Rikdo Koshi does a color page at the start, in case people wondered if my Excel Saga radar hadn’t gone off.

The Wallflower, Vol. 30

Leave a reply

By Tomoko Hayakawa. Released in Japan as “Yamato Nadeshiko Shichihenge” by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Friend (“Betsufure”). Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Recently, Vol. 30 came out of two separate successful shoujo series. Yet while the reaction of most online fans to Skip Beat! 30 is “Yay! I’m so happy that it’s still running!”, the reaction the The Wallflower 30 tends to be more “EEEENNNNDD!!! EEEEEEEEEEEENNNNNNDDDDD!” Partly this is due to The Wallflower’s writer having little to no idea on how to resolve her romance without destroying her comedy, as I’ve noted before. But another reason is that The Wallflower is so episodic. If you jump from Vol. 6 of Skip Beat! to Vol. 25, you’re going to be somewhat lost. This is much less of a problem with this series, where even in this volume, where three of the stories interweave a small amount, each can be read on its own if you just happen to pick up that month’s Betsufure after a 4-year-hiatus.

wallflower30

There is also, every chapter, the illusion that progress is being made and characters are growing. I’m not sure how much of it is deliberate, actually. But every chapter in this volume has that one moment where a character (either Sunako, Kyohei, or both) has that moment of realization where they understand what someone else is thinking and what needs to be done. Their empathy with Sunako’s aunt when she’s once again taken advantage of; Sunako noting that “I’ll just pretend we’re not friends” is a horrible strategy when trying to avoid having your friend get bullied; Kyohei realizing that there is a difference between ‘watching Sunako get embarrassed’ and real emotional and physical pain; and Sunako finding that regarding Kyohei as a ‘bright, shiny object’ as she always does is only what everyone else in the world has done to him forever, and he HATES it. You sense that everyone is gradually growing up… yet you aren’t surprised when they backslide next month.

Because everyone still serves the comedy. Which is how Ranmaru can be the most awesome fiance ever in one chapter and then (literally five minutes later in story terms) announce he’s going to go out and pick up more women. (By the way, props to Takenaga for calling him out on it – Noi wasn’t even there to impress!) Meanwhile, Tamao gets a bit more development here, but I’m not sure it’s to her benefit. She’s always been the nice, perfect princess who loves Ranmaru no matter what and doesn’t get angry, but now we see her life at school involves another, less perfect princess bullying her every day, and she simply takes it with a niceness that borders on surreal. Thank God Sunako shows up (looking gorgeous, by the way, one of the best ‘Sunako pinup’ shots in ages). Oh well, it could be worse – she could be Yuki, who the author has totally forgotten about.

This series continues to have all the weaknesses that it’s well-known for, and is not getting rid of any of them soon. (My favorite being the author’s complete inability to draw backgrounds half the time – the story could take place in a white void for all we know.) But it also continues to have all of the same strengths, and Kyohei and Sunako are both perfect for each other, even if they don’t see it. Best of all, the series is still funny, as everyone in this manga, except maybe Yuki and Tamao, are completely insane. Which is why we get shots of the leads dressed as PIRATES! in the first chapter here. Looking forward to the next 30 volumes!

Emerald and Other Stories

Leave a reply

By Hiroaki Samura. Released in Japan as “Sister Generator” by Kodansha, serialized in various magazines. Released in North America by Dark Horse Comics.

Well, first off, there’s not a samurai in this thing. It’s an anthology similar to the one we saw recently from Kaoru Mori, aka “I need to do something different occasionally and show off my chops”. As with most anthologies, the quality is highly variable, but the author is good enough that even the stories I didn’t really get into here had something to offer. It’s a good short story collection, all told.

emerald

The collection itself was published by Kodansha, and it’s likely no coincidence that the three strongest stories in it ran in that company’s seinen magazine Monthly Afternoon, also home to Blade of the Immortal, the work that Samura is most famous for. This North American version uses Emerald as the title story (Sister Generator is an amusing title, but I think would convey the wrong image over here), and it’s a straight-up Western, with gunslingers, saloons, and an orphan playing a tortured game in order to save her family’s good name (and her chastity). As with the best Westerns, the morality is incredibly ambiguous, but there’s a heartwarming center to it despite it all.

The stories are interspersed with some short gag comics that ran in Ohta Shuppan’s QuickJapan for a while, all based around Japanese schoolgirls snarking around whatever fashionable trend they’re dealing with at the moment. It reminded me quite a bit of Furuya’s Short Cuts series, and while these aren’t quite ko-gals, there’s the same surreal quality to a lot of their conversations (probably my favorite is where two of the girls compare their fan fiction, and we find that one of them basically writes straight-up bad porn). I like these sorts of stories, but I can see how they might be a weak link for any other readers. Another weak link might be Shizuru Cinema, a short story from Media Factory’s Comic Flapper, which I think ended up being a little TOO weird and diffuse for me. (The same could be said about Brigitte’s Dinner, but that won me over with its stark imagery.)

The real winner, though, is “The Kusein Family’s Grandest Show”, a dark and twisted story about a family where all is not as it seems. I don’t want to give away too much about the plot – the way you can tell I really love a story is I either spend 5000 words or 6 describing it – but it shows a very dark take on daughters taking after their mothers, what we leave behind, and exactly what it means to fulfill a man’s dying wishes. The mood, dialogue, and sinister plot all combine to create something almost poetic – although it’s a subdued, erotic poetry. The whole volume is worth it for this story.

As with a lot of short story collections, you want to come out of them saying “I’ve got to get more of this author’s work!” As such, I’m really interested in both Blade of the Immortal and his other NA short story collection, Ohikkoshi. The man can certainly spin a tale. And if all else fails, you can take pride in his amazing mahjong hand, as seen in perhaps the most obscure manga in this collection.