A Certain Scientific Railgun Volume 1

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By Kazuma Kamachi and Motoi Fuyukawa. Released in Japan as “Toaru Kagaku no Railgun” by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Seven Seas.

Ah, franchises. In the beginning there was the light novel series Toaru Majutsu no Index (A Certain Magical Index), which started in 2004 and has shown no signs of stopping anytime soon. In turn, it spawned a series of side-story light novels, based on the breakout character Mikoto Misaka, called A Certain Scientific Railgun. Then a manga of Index started over in Square Enix’s Shonen Gangan. Then a manga of Railgun (this series) started in Dengeki Daioh. Then the anime came out. Then the Railgun anime. Then the 2nd Index anime. Then the game…

It can get very confusing. Here in North America, light novels don’t sell, so the books are not available. The anime has one season released by Geneon (now defunct), and the Railgun series due to come out soon. As for the manga, one would expect that you’d put out the parent series before you license the spinoff. However, as is quite common in Japan, they’re owned by two different companies. And Yen Press, who deal with Square Enix a lot lately, have made no noises about licensing the Index manga. Seven Seas, though, does deal heavily with the company publishing the spinoff, and so that’s what we have. Luckily, a) you see very little crossover between the two, beyond the hero, who is introduced to new readers; and b) Railgun has become more popular than Index anyway, so should do well here provided that fans of the franchise actually purchase a thing rather than merely gushing about how much of a fan of the series they are and then reading a scanlation online.

As for the manga itself, the supposed premise is that we’re at a magic school (which is apparently so large it’s the size of a city) where various powerful kids learn to control and harness their powers. Our here is a normal schlub of a guy who has no actual powerful skills but manages to win the hearts of over a dozen… no wait, wrong series. In *this* story, our heroine is Mikoto, who is one of only 7 students whose power has been graded at ‘Level 5’. Her power apparently involves zapping folks with electricity, and her specialty is using an arcade token as a magical bullet and firing it at people at several times the speed of sound. She’s pretty awesome, and the first volume involves seeing her trying to go about her everyday life while dealing with mad bombers, groping best friends, and the one boy who’s unaffected by her powers… that hero I mentioned earlier.

Honestly, there is the start of a serious plot introduced here, with the so-called “Level Upper” that will allow you to increase your power level with little to no effort. Given this is a Japanese manga, I’m sure we know how well THAT will go. But for the most part, we get goofy scenes of Kuroko, Mikoto’s best friend and a teleporter, trying to hit on her and being completely unsuccessful in a dumb “oh hey, it’s the comedy yuri girl” way. Misaki herself seems to have a crush on Touma, the hero of A Certain Magical Index, who shows up here and gets a “reintroduction” scene since he’s apparently going to be appearing both here and in the parent series. And there’s one or two other characters who clearly will get fleshed out over time.

It’s good simple fun, but it’s not gripping or exciting. Aside from the bomb threats, not a lot happens here. If you’re a fan of Index and its universe, you’ll really enjoy it. If you have no idea what this is, but like the idea of a modern-day Lum firing electricity at bad guys, you might give this a shot. Everyone else can probably safely skip it.

Manga the week of 6/15

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This week is another good example of how it’s difficult to sort out release dates between: a) bookstores; b) Diamond Distribution, and c) Comic Shops ordering directly. Midtown Comics lists three titles I got this week, and one I got last month! On the bright side, it’s nice to see Diamond get things in FIRST for a change…

In the ‘old news’ department, Drawn & Quarterly has the gekiga anti-war manga Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths, as written by the creator of Gegege no Kitaro, Shigeru Mizuki. Be warned it’s heavy stuff. Also be warned you may dislike it if you don’t like ‘caricature’ faces. But get beyond that and I think it packs a powerful punch.

Seven Seas has its small list of June releases. We get the first volume of A Certain Scientific Railgun, which Seven Seas is sensibly not promoting as a spinoff of a series not available over here. The second volume of Amnesia Labyrinth is also out. It may be the last, but I’m not sure. I don’t think it actually ended in Japan, but… it does feature explicit incest, so I’m not sure if it’s on ‘hiatus’ after Bill 156. But then, it could just be on hold while Tanigawa wrote the new Haruhi books. Lastly, and very welcome, we have the Strawberry Panic novel omnibus, featuring the 3rd and final volume for the first time. Kudos to Seven Seas for listening to demand and getting this out. Reward them by buying it. It’s silly fun. Very silly.

And now for things that HAVEN’T actually come out already… there is a giant pile of yaoi from DMP. Kudos to DMP, by the way, for reminding us that there are other publishers in Japan bedsides the few we always see every week. Nihon Bungeisha, Akane Shinsha, Asuka Shinsha, Taiyo Tosho, Shinkousha… it’s a smorgasbord of companies that will make you say “who?” while providing you with quality yaoi. Old school fans will want to check out Bad Teacher’s Equation and the 3rd Kizuna reprint, both from the early 1990s. Fans of ongoing series will note that Blue Sheep Reverie has hit Vol. 4, which is quite high for licensed yaoi. Men of Tattoos not only has a great name, but ran in the magazine Opera, which I’ve heard good things about. And Rabbit Man, Tiger Man is not only billed as a comedy, but also has the title Rabbit Man, Tiger Man. (I hope it’s not an Ouran High School Host Club spinoff…)

Lastly, Viz has their trickle of 2nd week titles. New Arata the Legend and Kekkaishi from Shonen Sunday, and the penultimate Detroit Metal City from the lesser-known skeezy end of Hakusensha, Young Animal.

What appeals to you? Or will you spend the week getting the stuff Viz put out this week that you had to put off?

A Bride’s Story Volume 1

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By Kaoru Mori. Released in Japan as “Otoyomegatari” by Enterbrain, serialization ongoing in the magazine fellows!. Released in North America by Yen Press.

There’s no getting around how handsome a volume of manga this is. Even leaving aside the presentation, where Yen has really gone above and beyond with hardcover and everything, it’s simply gorgeous to look at. Kaoru Mori became a popular “blogger” author over here with her previous series Emma, and this new series sees her chancing her focus while keeping the same things that made people come back to her Victorian England over and over again.

The manga itself takes place somewhere in Central Asia in the early 19th Century, and is a nice role reversal of the usual dealings at that time, where a young man in his early 20s would take a wife who was barely into her teens. Here we find that the groom, Karluk is only twelve years old himself, and that the bride is twenty years old! Scandal! It’s never explicitly stated why Amir is still unmarried at such an advanced age – so far I’m guessing it might have something to do with her hunting/gathering/all around awesome skills – but it’s definitely an unspoken worry, with many villagers stunned that she hasn’t had children.

The volume, for the most part, follows the story of her interactions with her new family and village, with a few side trips dealing with the children of Karluk’s sister, who are gleefully childlike and provide a nice contrast with the too-mature-for-their-years lead couple. Amir proves to be almost too good to be true, showing the village the art of hunting rabbits and how to track a nomadic tribe that can conceal its movements. There is a final chapter, luckily, that shows her less-than-perfect side, as we see her completely freaking out when her husband is bedridden with a bad cold. It seems clear that death has touched her in the past from her emotions here, and I hope we can find out more about that soon.

For those looking at the fact that the boy groom in the series is twelve years old and raising an eyebrow, I note that a) this is the early 19th century, and b) nothing seems to have been consummated so far. There is one shot of a naked Amir convincing her husband to sleep unclothed next to her to share body heat on a cold night, but his reaction seems to be seeing Amir as a mother figure more than anything else.

If there’s anything wrong with the series, it’s that things seem just a little too polished. It’s an excellent manga, with good characters who interact well, gorgeous art, and clear signs of an overarching plot that begins to get started about 3/4 through the volume. At the same time, I can’t help but feel that I’m looking at a painting in a museum rather than reading a modern manga. There is a coolness to Amir that doesn’t really allow you to get closer to her, even when she’s being nice and friendly. It makes me feel as if I can’t really love the manga as much as I want to.

Despite that, this is still a great pickup for Yen, and I hope that Volume 2, out in October, gives me a little more to work with.