Summer Wars, Vol. 1

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By Mamoru Hosoda, Iqura Sugimoto, and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Released in Japan by Kadokawa Shoten, serialized in the magazine Young Ace. Released in North America by Vertical.

Adaptations of something into another form, be it a manga, anime, novel series, or movie always carries an inherent risk that it won’t recapture the moments you loved from the original material, or that people will say it’s dumbed down or exaggerated. And yet the appeal is there as well – I really loved this in one form, so why not take a look at it from a different angle? Certainly companies hope you’ll spend your money to check something out that you liked before. Luckily, with Summer Wars, I seem to be one of the few people who never saw the original movie this is based on, so I came at this adaptation fresh. And now I really want to see the movie, and worry the original won’t match up. As this first volume was just terrific.

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Things start off looking like a very typical shonen romantic comedy. Kenji is a high schooler, somewhat shy, good at math but not good enough to be in a national competition. He has a crush on Natsuki, who takes kendo and is the pure awesome Japanese high school student. One day she asks for a favor, though is cagey about the details. Those with experience in such stories won’t be surprised by what happens next: he’s pretending to be her boyfriend, so that she can get through a huge family reunion without a lot of hassle. And a lot of the beats that follow are familiar as well, though they’re all handled deftly. Some of the family like the kid, some don’t. There’s an older cousin that Natsuki has a crush on, which makes Kenji feel awkward. And her awesome old grandma sees right through both of them, realizing that Natsuki made this up, but also that Kenji is a good kid.

But that’s only half the story, and this is also a techno-thriller. Much of the world works in the manga via a virtual reality network. One day the network is hacked, and it’s put out on TV that it was Kenji who did it. (This turns out to be false, and there are many culprits who were conned into doing this, which I think is a shame. I loved the joy on Kenji’s face as he solved the math problem that ended up being a hack, and wish he had been more culpable later on.) And now the world is slowly spiraling into chaos by an AI that turns out to be far smarter than it was previously thought. Natsuki’s family, who are huge, positioned in just the right places, and can work together awesomely, try to stop the AI… so the AI kills off Natsuki’s grandmother, in a way that reads “this could be a coincidence, but really probably isn’t.) Now things are at a crisis point.

This is a two-volume manga in the Vertical edition (originally 3 in Japan), and it’s paced almost perfectly, with every scene having meaning. Even the Summer Wars title works well – the Summer and the Wars balancing each other out – romantic comedy with heartwarming family, and computers destroying everything we must now stop them. I didn’t mention Kazuma, another of Natsuki’s cousins who’s a young (and androgynous -I thought he was a she for a while) prodigy who will no doubt have a larger part to play in Vol. 2, which also suggests that Kenji will find his inner General. This manga really makes me want to see the original, one of the best things you can say about an adaptation, but also works great as its own story. And the couple’s cute, too. Highly recommended.

Quick License Roundup

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I hate doing these for only one title, but the other one that’s on Amazon already hasn’t quite been announced, so it will have to be content with a tweet or two. In the meantime, we have another Shonen Jump series, though this one is not going to be featured in the weekly online magazine.

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Shokugeki no Soma, which is getting the prefix Food Wars added to it for North America, is a Weekly Shonen Jump series that’s about 4 or 5 volumes so far. It is another manga about food creation but, like another Jump series, Toriko, I suspect this is not so much for the foodie manga reader as it is for the typical Jump manga fan. A young man is challenged by his chef father to go to an elite chef high school where it’s all battles all the time. It has very few graduates. Oh, and the head of the school’s granddaughter hates him. Can he survive just by being the hero of a Shonen Jump manga?

This sort of series has been called Food Porn, and apparently this particular series takes that wording a bit literally. Like many manga artists before they hit it big, Saeki Shun got his start in hentai doujinshi, and it shows in the abundant amounts of fanservice that this title has. Indeed, I was rather surprised at the announcement, not because it’s a battle manga – indeed, that’s likely the lure. It’s because ecchi harem series had been on the decline in North American recently. Strawberry 100%, an earlier Viz Jump title, is on permanent hiatus. Nisekoi is a romantic comedy, but its main thrust is not so much “panties!” the way the classic shonen harem title is. Food Wars (and I haven’t read it, so please correct me if I’m wrong) is combining a cooking manga with harem fanservice in much the same way Toriko combines it with One Piece-esque shonen ludicrousness.

As for whether it succeeds, well, I admit I’m intrigued at what the future will bring if it does. We shall see.

Wandering Son, Vol. 5

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By Shimura Takako. Released in Japan by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine Comic Beam. Released in North America by Fantagraphics.

Switching to a new environment can be crippling to a young person, particularly if they’re going through a lot of other things as well. So it is with the cast of Wandering Son and middle school. Nitori tries to continue to define himself while also discovering something he’s genuinely good at, Takatsuki discovers she’s no longer the only one in the room doing what she does, and Chiba finds that even if she’s gone from overly emotional to overly stoic, she still has difficulty dealing with anyone. So, in other words, it’s an excellent depiction of anyone’s life in middle school.

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We also meet some new cast members, who basically fly into Takatsuki’s circle of friends and explode like a bomb. Sarashina also sometimes wears male clothing, but it’s nothing to do with gender identity and more to do with her being an eccentric loudmouth who does whatever the hell she wants. Naturally, Takatsuki is drawn to her, as not caring about what people think is something everyone else in this book has trouble getting past. She also has a best friend, though, Shirai, who clearly is very close to her, and is very unhappy with this new girl making advances on her… um, friend. There are no yuri overtones here, really, but Shirai certainly exhibits all the classic signs of jealousy. She’s written a little flatly, so I hope we find out more about her later.

As for Chiba, you really want to reach out and give her a hug, but there’s no way she’d let you. She can’t get over her own feelings of hatred/jealousy towards Takatsuki, and attempting to suppress all emotion is not working out very well when everyone around you is giving you an excuse to go off like a rocket. So the answer, clearly, is to be antagonistic to *everyone* – even the girls in a higher grade than her, a definite no-no in Japanese society. I really hope Chiba can eventually move on past her repressed and upsetting anger, because right now she’s on a very dark road, and given she’s only 12 or so that’s depressing in itself.

Meanwhile, our hero and heroine are both facing the realities of puberty. Nitori and Ariga record their voices on tape, so they’ll be able to remember what they were like before they change. Nitori is a little upset at the idea that he won’t be able to dress as a girl anymore. Takatsuki is having an even worse time… her sports coach is demanding she wear a bra to practice, another reminder that her gender is trying to impose limits on her. The two of them finally make up, sort of, in a touching yet somewhat sad scene as they both worry about the future. Nitori, however, seems to get an idea for it, and begins to start writing a story based on his own experiences. I like the idea of Nitori’s insecurities and dreams fueling his creativity, and wonder if Takatsuki will be able to help in the process besides just having her life give him ideas.

All in all, this was an excellent transitional book in the series. As we settle into middle school, things are bound to get even more awkward, and I hope our cast finds the strength to make it through.