Category Archives: reviews

GTO: 14 Days in Shonan, Vol. 1

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By Toru Fujisawa. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Vertical.

In the beginning, there was Shonan Jun’ai Gumi, a 31-volume series about the adventures of two young delinquents in the Shonan area, and their amusing attempts to try to lose their virginity and change their ways. (Only one succeeded, and he’s not the star of this manga.) Then we had a 1-volume prequel, Bad Company, showing how Onizuka and Danma (the stars of SJG) first met in middle school. Following this came the most popular entry in the series, and the ones most North American fans know about, Great Teacher Onizuka. The ‘delinquent/gang leader becomes a teacher and teaches students to stand upright and be proud’ type of series is its own genre in Japan, but Onizuka took this to new heights of comedy, outrageousness and heartwarming.

When GTO ended in 2002, after 25 volumes, Fujisawa tried various other series that were unrelated to the Onizuka saga, for better or worse. (Some of them came over here via Tokyopop: Rose Hip Rose/Zero, Tokko…) There was even a series about a mysterious masked teacher that looked very much like GTO with the serial numbers filed off. But apparently it was impossible to stay away for too long, as in 2009 Fujisawa decided to take Onizuka back to his roots.

This 9-volume series is what’s awkwardly known as an ‘interquel’, which is to say it takes place entirely within the GTO series proper, during the time that Onizuka recovered from the gunshot wounds he received from insane stalker Teshigawara. Of course, mere bullets are not enough to stop our hero, whose ability to take fatal blows and still laugh is something you’re just going to have to accept. Unfortunately, after accidentally bragging about nearly killing one of his students on live television, Onizuka’s in a lot more trouble than usual, and he has to try to stay low. (This, by the way, gives the regular cast of GTO a chance to make a cameo, including Urumi, the aforementioned student who was almost killed. For those wondering about the bizarre translation ‘mate with me’ and ‘I want your seed’, no, that’s really how she talks.)

So Onizuka has to lay low for the next 2 weeks, and decides to go back to Shonan and hang around with his old gang members. This leads to another old GTO gag, where Onizuka brags about how his old gang are still brothers who’d make any sacrifice for each other, then finds reality is not so bright. Luckily, he’s taken in by a young woman who recognizes him; she’s a friend of his fellow teacher and not-quite-love-interest Fuyutsuki, and wonders if he can so something about the kids she has at her local boarding house…

And so we prepare for Onizuka to do what he did in GTO, only with a different group of kids. Let’s not mince words: there’s not a lot of originality here. But Kodansha didn’t approve a revival because they wanted to see something different. Onizuka changing the hearts and minds of troubled youngsters is what people want, and this series gives it to them. The beauty of GTO is the way that it combined comedic juvenile gags, gang violence, and heartwarming scenes to give an overall impression of “the world is not as unfair as you think it is”. And since he’s only got 9 volumes this time round, he makes an impression right away, winning over the eccentric and somewhat suicidal Sakurako and punching the lights out of her abusive father. Onizuka tends to believe in the powers of “I will change your mind with my fists if necessary”, and his defense of Sakurako (which earns the approval of her abused mother) is beautiful.

For those worried that they won’t understand the series without having read GTO or SJG, don’t worry about it. The GTO cast appear for about 6 pages and then are gone, and Onizuka’s type of teaching is pretty universal. There’s a few anachronisms (Onizuka draws Haruhi Suzumiya at one point, which is rather prescient given that GTO is supposed to take place in the late ’90s), but nothing game breaking. I will note that Onizuka can be crude, and talks a lot about finally getting laid. (It’s not going to happen.) And for those who hate cockroaches, a scene towards the end may freak you out. Otherwise, GTO: 14 Days in Shonan does exactly what we wanted it to do. Onizuka is back, and he’s redeeming the souls of rebellious teens through sheer force of personality – and sometimes just force. Welcome back.

Sayonara, Zetszubou-sensei, Vol. 12

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By Koji Kumeta. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Once again, I don’t really have much to talk about with this excellent volume of Zetsubou-sensei except a string of random observations. Which seems somewhat fitting, given this series.

As I’ve noted before, Zetsubou-sensei has acquired a reputation of burning out translators, with each one before Joshua Weeks lasting 4 volumes. I’ve no idea if this is Joshua’s final volume as well, but it wouldn’t surprise me: this one was an absolute nightmare to adapt, I imagine. The first chapter is an entire chapter based on “explain the Japanese pun”, the final ‘extra’ makes no sense unless you read the weekly Magazines, and another chapter is based around Rakugo. Certainly this is why, after doing notes for Vol. 10, *I* gave up. Still, an admirable job, even if I once again feel there’s too few endnotes. But that’s just me.

Most of the cast of high schoolers tend to have lousy lives in general, but at least can sometimes have a default of ‘happy’ most of the time, even if it’s a psychotic sort of happiness. Manami, though, who graces the back cover with her debt book… wow, her life is simply brutal. Married at the age of 16 to a philandering husband who appears to use her as a name to saddle all his debt on to, she’s also hideously unlucky and tends to get herself into more debt through sheer gullibility. In Volume 11, after hearing some of her complaints, her teacher decides to simply ignore them to save his sanity. Really, we should do the same here. Her face in Chapter 119 as she talks about realizing her husband is the one for her speaks of horrible illicit affairs gone wrong. Luckily, this is a gag manga, so we’ll never have to worry about it.

I also noticed a couple of chapters showing Maria at the receiving end of some of the unfortunate gags, which surprised me. Generally the cast divides into “people bad things happen to” (Manami being an excellent example), and “people who blithely walk through the chaos” (Kafuka is a prime example here). Usually Maria is one of the latter, so seeing her two falls here is rather unusual. Still, no one in the end is safe from a gag as long as it’s funny. Well, except for the aforementioned Kafuka. I think even if a meteor destroyed the Earth, she’d be blithely smiling in her space bunker somewhere else…

The ‘hot or not’ chapter really worked much better in the anime. Probably due to the chilling chirpiness of Chiri’s ‘ari ari ari ari!’ in the original Japanese. Speaking of Chiri, she seems now to be committing murders on an almost daily basis, judging by her having to hide from police disguised as tree bark. And yet she still has a rival: Mayo’s face as she demonstrates the blowtorch is absolutely beautiful. (It was an inspiration for her appearance in the ending to the 3rd season.) And I love Kiri and Matoi sniping at each other as usual.

Then there’s Kiyohiko’s Night. Oi. The folks who watch the anime have an advantage over others, as they’ve actually seen the sequence in question, but here goes: Weekly Shonen Magazine has a special issues with one-shots and short special versions of regular comics that comes out on holidays. For one of these, Kumeta released a 4-page comic that involved a pun on the Japanese version of ‘Silent Night’ and a bizarre man named Kiyohiko. As viewers of the anime can tell you, it was not particularly funny. What’s more, the magazine it appeared in had to be pulled due to a controversy surrounding another artist’s work so very few people got to read it anyway. It was presumably supposed to be in this volume, but Kumeta, realizing it wasn’t that funny, pulled it and instead drew 4 pages of the cast complaining. So now you know! (You can see Kiyohiko on the swing by Maria at the back of the book, if you’re curious.)

Also, Kiri is changing into her sweats for her “don’t open it”, and you can see her semi-naked. I therefore conclude the missing Kiri from Vol. 10 was indeed the usual poor quality control rather than any censorious reasons. (Quality control seems better here.) Lastly, we have some of the Japanese fanart. One piece of which made me absolutely boggle. It involves Kafuka ogling her teacher’s ass. You really should see it for yourself.

And now I’m caught up! Roll on Vol. 13!

Cross Game, Vol. 6

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By Mitsuru Adachi. Released in Japan in 2 separate volumes by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Shonen Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

I had noted in my Manga The Week Of column that this new Cross Game might simply be 2 more volumes of nothing but baseball, but for once that’s not the case. Oh, there’s lots of practicing, and baseball does feature prominently in one of the subplots. But this is the offseason, and despite much practice and training, Ko and Aoba’s thoughts are also turning to other things. And then there’s the problem of Akane…

I find Akane fascinating, honestly. Adachi is certainly not flinching from showing us the sheer discomfort that everyone from Wakaba’s past has in her presence. At the same time, especially as the volume goes on, that same presence also gives them a sense of calm and peace. It’s also additionally unsettling for the reader who has followed Adachi’s works since the late 70s. Here is a story he created that finally has the heroine not being ‘nice, supportive, calm girl’, and what does he do? He has the spitting image of his old heroines show up and insinuate herself into Ko’s life! To be fair to Akane, she’s not being the ‘other woman’ here. She seems to know very well the feelings Ko and Aoba have for each other. But they’re both in denial, and not actually going anywhere. And Akane is starting to fall for Ko. So why not take a chance?

It’s not as if Ko is the only one being hit by this, of course. We get the best look at Akaishi we’ve had since the first volume, as he presses Akane and Ko into going on a date. Given that he loved Wakaba, and is clearly attracted to Akane, this seems highly unusual, but we shouldn’t be surprised, given that this is a manga where everyone is always so supportive of the other person without thinking of their own feelings. I noted on Twitter that if the cast of Cross Game were remotely selfish, the manga would only be about 100 pages long. I think Adachi knows readers are rooting for Akaishi… if only as they’re all rooting for Ko and Aoba, and someone needs to get the other cute girl.

It’s not going to be Azuma, who also gets a nice look in here. This is where the baseball I mentioned earlier comes in, as one subplot has Azuma smashing a line drive into Aoba, fracturing her leg. This upsets him far more than usual… not that we can see it in his face, of course, but you can see it through his actions, as his swing is not really what it should be until Aoba gets out of the hospital. Like Akane, he’s fallen in love with someone while knowing that she’s already taken, she just needs to realize this. The frustration can sometimes be palpable, which is likely why he decides to pretend the maintenance kit came from him. Ko already has a lead so large that no one can really pass it. Azuma’s brother gets the line of the volume when he asks Aoba “Have you ever thought you liked my brother without someone asking you first?”.

There’s a definite theme of growing up here, with the other two Tsukishima heroines both shown to be going out with (and toying with) other guys, and Ko telling Aoba’s father that he should think about remarrying as well. But the past still clings to us, be it a lookalike of Wakaba who has innocently taken her place in their lives, or a birthday present list that you just can’t stop buying for, even if you can’t admit it. The characters aren’t selfish. And that’s why Cross Game is 17 volumes long. This was Vol. 12 and 13, for those keeping up with the NA releases. Next up, I suspect: more baseball games.

(Also, love that reference to Major, which is not only Adachi self-deprecation, but a namecheck of a 78-volume baseball series, a friendly rival to Cross Game in Sunday, that will be licensed by Viz about the same time as the heat death of the universe.)