Book Girl and the Corrupted Angel

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By Mizuki Nomura. Released in Japan by Enterbrain. Released in North America by Yen Press.

As I noted in my previous review of Book Girl, the plots and mysteries in these novels all seem to take the same turns. So rather than focus on how Konoha finds once again how his life mirrors that of the guest star this week, I have some thoughts that occurred to me as I read it, which will contain spoilers for both this book and the previous three.

First of all, as the author notes in her afterword, the cliffhanger from Book Three is not touched on here at all, except for the fact that Konoha reveals that yes, he did actually know about it and this is not a “secret” being kept from him. The reasoning for this is because Nomura-san felt that if she moved on to the ‘finale’ right now, it would do Nanase a disservice. Which is true, I suppose, except that for a book that is meant to be her focus book, Nanase gets startlingly little to do here. I’ve had issues with her in the past three books – I felt she was the flattest of the characters, and looked forward to seeing what happened with her here – but so much of the action in this book revolves around her being a touchstone to the other characters, an ideal, rather than interacting with her as a person.

That said, her scene with Konoha in the abandoned house of Mito’s family is brilliant, and a good thing too, as it’s likely to be the last decent interaction she’ll get with Konoha. Nanase may be a tsundere, but she’s never been able to repress her emotions at all. Whereas Konoha is *all* repressed emotions – except they keep slipping out of him with every panic attack he has. Their confessions and commiserations are done over cell phones, even though they’re sitting next to each other – which is both heartwarming and also quite sad. And then, finally, Nanase confesses. And Konoha, neither as the narrator nor in dialogue, ever acknowledges that she has for the rest of the novel. Not even when people confront him on it point-blank, or refer to it obliquely. Indeed, his narration can be quite aggravating as he tries to think of things to do to cheer Nanase up – you can hear your teeth grind as you read it.

For all that Konoha has been supposedly growing with each novel, he still shows signs here of being nowhere close to a functional human being. Which is absolutely fine. I mean, Konoha essentially has post-traumatic stress disorder, among other problems. As he learned in the previous Book Girl, these aren’t the sorts of things that can be resolved in a nice, pat 30-minute TV show. His joy at talking with Mariya-san earlier is based around the fact that he constantly seeks others that he can emulate, and thinks that the quiet, chai-loving joys of this music teacher give him hope. Of course, this is then stomped to bits over the rest of the book. Honestly, the real ways that Konoha grows in this book is in relation to his writing. Slowly he is coming to realize the joy that reading Miu Inoue has given to others, and that it’s not just because they’re shallow or are seeking escape in a happy fantasy world. He is accepting his own work, which will (we hope) eventually lead him to accept his own self.

Tohko, of course, is the primary reason this is happening at all. Despite having a vague harem-atmosphere in the broadest sense, the meat of this series has absolutely nothing to do with “who will Konoha end up with?” Which is good, as it’s unlikely to be Tohko, the titular Book Girl. She’s absent from a lot of the investigation for once, as she’s preparing for college exams. Of course, she blows off her practice exams in order to solve the mystery. She’s fulfilling several functions in Konoha’s life, but perhaps the most important is keeping him writing – even if he refuses to admit that what he writes for Tohko is the same thing as what he wrote as Miu Inoue. His writing is a gift, a real talent, and by Tohko not allowing that to die, even under a purportedly selfish guise of “wanting snacks”, she can help to heal his heart. Tohko is not really a love interest here – more of a muse, with a bit of therapist thrown in.

The book examined here, by the way, is The Phantom of the Opera, as stated on the back cover. With a bit of Dumas’s Camille thrown in. It’s a book that has most people nowadays thinking of the adaptations instead, as Tohko acknowledges, but it also prepares us for a lot of high emotion. Konoha’s fits and panic attacks seem even higher-strung than the prior books, and the denouement of the mystery consists of a lot of people screaming at each other. There’s a lot of sordid things happening here, as with previous Book Girl novels. Enjo Kosai, or “compensated dating”, comes up as a main plot point, and it’s not glamorized at all – it’s sordid and disempowering. The actual finale of the book, on the other hand, is quite quiet and beautiful – and leaves a little bit of hope, which is all you ask for a series like this.

As I said, the cliffhanger from Book Three is not resolved here, but Miu Asakura, the girl from Konoha’s past, does pop up here and there in Nanase’s backstory and narration – and doesn’t sound at all pleasant. Well, we couldn’t expect all happy smiles and forgiveness, now could we? Even though we don’t meet her here, she is enough of a force that Nanase’s final statement manages to be a cliffhanger on its own. After being faked out last time, I’m not sure if Book Five will resolve it either – there are eight books in the series, after all. But certainly I want to read more, and July, which sees Book Girl and the Wayfarer’s Lamentation (these titles always sound so sad) seems very far away. Recommended.

Durarara!!, Vol. 1

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By Ryohgo Narita, Suzuhito Yasuda, and Akiyo Satorigi. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine GFantasy. Released in North America by Yen Press.

Unlike my fellow reviewers on Manga Bookshelf, who have already come at this volume from the perspective of one who is unfamiliar with the franchise, this is my third go-round with this material. I had seen the anime based on the light novels, and following that I had read a translation of the first book. It’s quite similar to the trajectory I followed with the Suzumiya Haruhi series, and I must admit that my primary worry was that the manga version of DRRR!! would be as uninspiring as the Haruhi manga has (mostly) turned out to be. Fortunately, my fears were quelled – this is a quite decent adaptation, and I think folks coming at it for the first time will have a lot of fun, even if they may get a bit confused as well.

As you may have noticed from the cover, the DRRR!! series is known for its impressive cast size. The wraparound cover is actually impressively designed, and catches the eye quite nicely. It’s an ensemble piece overall, with no cast member supposedly standing out as the “star”, but if I had to pick the lead characters, they would indeed be the five people on the front cover and the leather-clad figure on the spine. Other successful parts of the adaptation include the chatroom conversations, which are a large part of the original novels. It can be hard to make such things interesting in a manga medium, but showing the hands typing manages to keep us guessing while still giving clues as to the actual identity of the participants.

The manga rearranges some plot beats to make it flow better, particularly the scenes with Seiji and his stalker. You actually manage to feel a little sympathy for him, however brief that is, before his ill-thought-out actions. Though honestly, in this manga it can be hard to find sympathetic characters. Minako certainly qualifies as one, at least in these first few books. Most of the cast, however, just have that “off” feel to them, and you come to realize that you’re dealing with a bunch of weirdos and freaks here – many by design. The best example of this is the chapter dealing with Izaya, who is the closest the series gets to a villain. Certainly he’s absolutely horrible in Chapter 4, but notably he doesn’t actually go through what what is implied – there’s a certain sense that he’s acting the villain for fun, rather than out of malice. Which is why, even if he drops those suitcases off the highrise, they are invariably empty.

As you would guess with a spinoff manga, while this is written with the neophyte in mind, a lot of the book gains extra depth after you’ve read it through once, or if you already know the source material. Erika’s line about “just a few books for us to use tonight” goes from confusing to chilling, a morbid punchline to the typical otaku (buy three copies of everything) habit. Instead of trying to guess the plot, you end up surprised by how much of the plot is woven seamlessly into the early sections – Masaomi’s reaction to the color gangs, for example, or Celty’s horrible flashback to Shingen and a young Shinra. The sign of a good tie-in is that it can pander to its base without sacrificing new fans, and I think DRRR!! does that here.

It’s not necessarily perfect – the art seems to be a lot more “moe” and cutesy than the original character designs for the novels were. Mikado and Shinra especially suffer because of this. It also meanders a lot, but then so did the original. I think a series like this will benefit from having a few more volumes out to better digest everything. Looking forward to April, when we’ll get Vol. 2. Will it have a special guest artist to raw in the fans the way this volume does with Black Butler’s Yana Toboso?

And yeah, I have no idea why the chapters are variations on Wa. But then the title Durarara!! is itself meant to be based on nonsense syllables.

Short Cuts, Vols. 1 & 2

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By Usamaru Furuya. Released in Japan by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Young Sunday. Released in North America by Viz.

Short Cuts was my first exposure to this month’s MMF topic, Usamaru Furuya. I picked it up because the girls in it looked cute and the manga itself looked funny. Both turned out to be correct, yet there ended up being much more, something that made me want to seek out more work from this talented artist whose point of view seemed a little different than everyone else’s.

Genkaku Picasso has its comedic moments, but it really has to be said: Short Cuts is easily the most light-hearted and comedic title that North America has ever released from Furuya. The reason for this might have something to do with the manga’s chosen topic: kogals. The phenomenon is now over, but at the time that Short Cuts was serialized, kogals were at the height of their popularity. The fashion-conscious, uniform-altering girl who didn’t care about Japanese standards and wanted to do her own thing… provided it was the thing the others were doing. Short Cuts also refers to the format: it’s basically a 4-koma style without being limited to 4 panels. Most of the pages are one-page gag panels, with a few exceptions for serious stories or ‘arty’ bits.

Speaking of those arty bits, another reason that Furuya’s art really stood out for me are those times when he would jokingly ‘get possessed’ and draw these huge two-page surreal spreads… which also made it into the magazine, which says something about the trust the editors had in him. His art tends to fit the gag during most of the book – cute girls have cute faces, while older folks or non kogals tend to look much more realistic and frumpy. (One comic even has Mai lampshade this, finding a magazine of her dumpy parents as fashion models years ago.) The two-page art panels give an impression of someone who is given creative freedom in his series, but it’s STILL NOT ENOUGH – he must create even more bizarre and outre things.

There is no continuity in this series as such, though a couple of characters recur. The most obvious one is Mai-chan, who is Furuya’s default kogal. She’s more of an ‘everyday girl’ than the other kogals depicted here, and probably closest to the reader identification figure. Well, that is, when she’s not being conscripted into the JSDF or breaking the fourth wall to rebel against the author himself. Mai is a great example of the fun side of Short Cuts. At the same time, Furuya is not afraid to do the occasional serious strip either – Cut 54 here, where a man desperate for money sells his wife and daughter as ‘conveniences’ is both appalling and somewhat sad.

The strips appeared in the seinen magazine geared towards early 20-somethings Young Sunday, which, like all other magazines in Japan with ‘Young’ in their title, has a certain amount of adult content. Short Cuts is no different, and I would definitely classify it for mature readers. Be it the computers that have to be given blowjobs in order to boot up, or the Little Lolita Storage Safe, or the girl who loses her virginity at the beach after using her father as a swimsuit (it makes sense in context… well, no, it really doesn’t), Short Cuts is not something you should let impressionable children read, at least not without long talks about sexuality in Japan.

Short Cuts even gets an ending os sorts, as Furuya shows himself as a dying old man, finally passing away and being taken to heaven by Mai-chan and the rest of the Short Cuts cast. This is, I think, the main reason why Short Cuts succeeds. It takes on a lot of funny subjects, especially the kogal movement in Japan, but it’s never mean about them. You get the feeling that Furuya likes these girls, and is rooting for them. And we do as well. In a world where they constantly have to battle parents, perverts, and each other, you take the little victories where you can. Short Cuts is a string of those little victories, showing Kogals at a time when they were on top of the world. It’s also a fantastic example of Usamaru Furuya’s art. Both volumes are out of print, I believe, but should be fairly easy to track down.