No. 6, Vol. 1

3 Replies

By Atsuko Asano and Hinoki Kino. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Aria. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

Dystopias are, as a general rule, not my cup of tea. Those who read this blog on a regular basis already know that I’ll forgive a lot of a story if it has a happy ending; likewise, if a series is just unrelentingly grim, all I really feel is exhausted. But that isn’t to say that a series can’t still win me over with enough interesting things going on. No. 6 is indeed one of those series. It takes place in a supposed elite utopia that turns out to have many deep, dark secrets, and our hero quickly finds out how fast events can turn against him. It’s also shoujo – it runs in Aria, Kodansha’s upscale magazine that’s competing with titles like Asuka and Wings to get the teen “not quite BL” market.

number6

Our hero’s name is Shion, a stoic and reserved young man who is on the fast track for the elite school (and this is among a city of elites) until he lets a young fugitive, who seems to be called Rat, briefly stay at his place, and sews up his wounds. This causes him to lose that elite privilege, something which… really doesn’t bother him much. Several years later, he’s working part-time jobs and staring blankly at his female best friend, who blatantly says she wants to sex him up but is just not registering on his radar, when he comes across a hideous government conspiracy that is killing people by aging them to death. He’s rescued by Rat, and is forced to abandon his life and go on the run, where he’ll find out what the city is really like.

Passive characters like Shion have to be handled very carefully not to be boring. Luckily, these creators are doing a good job so far. Shion may be reserved, but he’s not unemotional, and I like his youthful enthusiasm (which sadly wears down as the volume goes on) and bluntness when he first meets Rat. The scenes with Safu, the aforementioned best friend, are also both quite funny and very telling. It’s not entirely clear if he’s uninterested because he’s not into girls (certainly he bonds better with Rat than he has with Safu) or if the concept of sexual love has simply never occurred to him, but it’s another thing that serves to make him watchable. (By the way, Safu will be dying at some point in this series, sacrificing her life for Shion. I don’t know any spoilers, but bank on this happening anyway, because DUR HEY.)

Rat is less successful, being more of a standard smug pretty boy who has learned not to trust anyone but can’t help but be drawn to our hero. Likewise, the government conspiracy itself, along with its Orwellian officers who administer it, are very much out of the school of Dystopias 101. The aging-to-death thing is pretty horrific, but we don’t know either of the victims long enough for it to really sink in. And the art is serviceable, but doesn’t really pull you in much.

That said, I’m interested to see what happens with Shion, who’s an intriguing enough character that I’ll try another volume of this. The genre isn’t my cup of tea, but the lead may be. And it’s a definite must-buy for anyone who likes conspiracy thrillers with overtones of possible BL romance.

Umineko: When They Cry, Vol. 3

3 Replies

Story by Ryukishi07; Art by Jiro Suzuki. Released in Japan in two and 1/2 separate volumes as “Umineko no Naku Koro ni: Turn of the Golden Witch” by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine GFantasy. Released in North America by Yen Press.

(In case there are any Umineko obsessives reading this, please avoid any future spoilers in comments. No need to Yasu this up till we have to.)

We’ve had our first go-round, and now Umineko begins its second arc. Surprisingly, for most of this volume Battler isn’t the protagonist, either. I was expecting, as with Higurashi, a few arcs that are simply “Battler is dumb” before things really got going. Here, though, we get a wider view of the cast. The fist half of this has the servants Shannon and Kanon as the dual protagonists, showing Shannon’s love for George and how she got a chance to make that love happen, as well as Kanon’s combination of jealousy and self-loathing that balance this out. Between the two of them, Beatrice has a lot to manipulate, and that’s exactly what she does here – though Shannon, at least, is starting to see through Beatrice’s motivations. Certainly more than Battler is.

RYUKISHI07_UminekoV2E1_TP

The second half of the “island story” (more on the meta world later) focuses more on Maria and her mother Rosa, and oh dear I worry about the fandom just dropping this like a hot potato. Parental abuse is not unique to anime and manga, certainly, but it’s rare in a protagonist, and I think that’s what Ryukishi07 is trying to set Rosa up as here – particularly after the events of the first Twilight that remove the other potential adult protagonists. Her bipolar tendencies are simply hard to read, and we definitely see why Umineko fandom has sarcastically nicknamed her “BEST MOM EVER”. Maria’s not exactly helping her case, either – she’s just as hyper-annoying and creepy as she was in the first arc, and it’s easy to see (though not justify) why she would grate on every one of Rosa’s nerves. Basically, this is a horribly broken family, and putting them in a situation like this is just mean.

Which brings me to Battler and Beatrice. No, not the Battler who’s on the island, or the Beatrice who’s showing up doing magic things and dressing in stockings and short skirts; I’m talking about the Beatrice and Battler from the first arc, who are sitting over a gameboard watching as Battler tries to prove that the murders are human-caused, and Beatrice tries to prove they’re all due to magic. The arcs certainly tie together more than they do with Higurashi, and even more than that series, this one rewards re-reads – and is harsh to those who don’t pay attention. I have to say that I think Beatrice’s ‘move’ here is excellent – Battler could easily deny witches in the first arc when she was just portraits and butterflies, but now Beatrice is everywhere, flouting Battler by simply existing and doing supposed magic.

No one really reads this to identify with or bond over the characters, I hope – leaving aside the fact that they always die, these folks are simply far more unlikeable and broken than even Higurashi’s broken cast, and they’re explicitly compared to “game pieces”. No, we read this to try to figure out what’s actually happening here – particularly now that we have multiple realities stacking up with the ‘meta’ gameboard. I’m pretty sure that this arc isn’t going to give us any answers – in fact, as with Higurashi, I’m not expecting anything concrete till at least the 5th arc – but it does have a lot of pointing and shouting, and over the top faces (sometimes too over the top – I think the artists overdo it in Umineko based on the fan reaction to Higurashi’s faces), and grand guignol horror.

A manga that requires you to think about everything that’s happening, while also trying not to overthink things, seems very contradictory. But that’s Umineko in a nutshell, and if you don’t mind horrible things happening to horrible people, it’s still a great deal of fun. Especially now that Beatrice, who is pure evil on a stick, has made her grand debut.

(By the way, for those curious, Yen didn’t leave out any extras – the 2nd volume in Japan also lacked the extras Vol. 1 had.)

Attack on Titan, Vol. 5

7 Replies

By Hajime Isayama. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine. Released in North America by Kodansha Comics.

(There may be spoilers in this review for people who are only following the anime.)

In general, I tend to do a lot of reviews for this blog. But sometimes, I don’t have as much to say. So I am very grateful to the Manga Bookshelf team, who allow me, with their Bookshelf Briefs column, to do quick reviews of titles I can’t really spend 500+ words talking about. That said, I have my pet series, which will always get full reviews no matter what. Sailor Moon. Excel Saga. Higurashi. And now, after a few briefs, I’ve decided that Attack on Titan is going to join that crowd. Because guys, this is seriously one of the best manga out there. Its popularity is very much on the rise, helped by the release of the anime, but also by its compelling plot and fantastic characterization, which has been helped by greatly improved facial art. The art is still the weak point, but it’s not enough to make this any less gripping.

attackontitan5

Things pick up right where last volume left off, as we’re dealing with the fallout from Eren’s Titan reveal. Eren is not quite sure about it himself, and that’s the wrong answer to give to a city that’s very much had enough of its family and friends being eaten by Titans. The military trial that follows is great, showing off the “kill him before he kills us all” folks (who are more than one group, and for different reasons) and contrasting him with the Survey Team group, who think Eren may be the best way to help them gain ground and learn about the other Titans. Levi in particular makes an instant impression (that’s him in the foreground on the cover), being that sort of commanding officer who appears cold and unfeeling but has your best interests at heart.

Eren is thus taken to a new squad, and for a moment we worry that we may not see our other main heroes again. Fear not, though: their training is over and they’re all given the opportunity to join the Survey Team themselves. The speech inspiring this is stark and depressing, deliberately so, and it’s no surprise that the majority of those who’ve been through basic training walk away. We then get a great montage of the decisions the others make to join the team. Mikasa and Armin are givens, and I’m not surprised by Reiner and Bartolt either, as they’re the strong stoic types. But Jean, Connie and Sasha are genuinely worried and scared. Sasha, in fact, is absolutely terrified, having almost been taken out by a Titan in Volume 2, to the point where she begged for her life. We get a horrific image of what it would be like for those three to be assaulted and eaten by Titans. Connie recalls his mom back home would love him to be safe with the military police. And yet, in the end, they stay and join the Team, even if Sasha and Krista are crying. (Annie leaves, though. I’m sure she’ll pop up again, though, if only to beat up more guys.)

(Note that we also have some cast who have been around, but aren’t named yet. Gosh, who is that freckled girl next to Krista, and why is she so grumpy and yet always next to her? On a completely different note, there was a somewhat depressing side story at the start of the volume, where a survey team member tries to take notes regarding the Titans before she is brutally eaten. We later see her notebook is rescued, so it’s not all for naught. This chapter was far more important in retrospect, but I think a lot of people may have been spoiled about something or other, so it’s an odd case where those spoiled go “Oh my God!” more than those who haven’t.)

So yes, we now get a merging of the two casts, as Levi and Eren’s group (which also has Zoe Hange, who is marvelous and tortures Titans FOR SCIENCE and is a great reminder that Sasha is not the only weirdo in this series) merge with Mikasa and Armin’s crowd and go merrily off to train and capture Titans. And again we’re reminded how brutal this series is, as many of the people we’ve only just come to know are cut down by Titans who are simply too fast, too large, too homicidal, and (for a cliffhanger) too clever to go quietly. Armin, in fact, realizes what the rest of us may have not – if Eren can transform into a Titan, maybe the other Titans are actually humans as well? Does that mean that the entire Corps could be full of secret Titan spies?

Leaving aside the truly ludicrous “next time” page spread – the author allows himself to have fun with these – this is another very serious volume of Attack on Titan, and you really shouldn’t get too attached to many of the people in this cast. But man, it’s an amazing read, and I just can’t wait to find out what happens next.