Ouran High School Host Club Vol. 15

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By Bisco Hatori. Released in Japan as “Ouran Koukou Host Club” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine LaLa. Released in North America by Viz.

Yes, I can now change the information in the header from ‘serialization ongoing’ to ‘serialized’, as Ouran has finally finished in Japan. Admittedly, we have a ways to go – Viz has slowed down the release as it’s caught up with Japan, and seems content to release 2 volumes a year, so it may be 2012 before we get the final volume. In any case, last time Haruhi realized her feelings, sort of, and is busy grappling with them. Will Tamaki do the same here?

Yes, he will, and it’s easily the best part of the volume. We wrap up the problem of Kanoya-san, Haruhi’s doppelganger, with aplomb, as the cast participates in a giant scavenger hunt that depends both on Tamaki being as over the top stupid as he usually is (the curry ingredients in particular are hilarious) and also Tamaki’s amazing ability to read people. When he’s not being a hyperactive spaz, Tamaki really is the perfect shoujo boyfriend, and his tender understanding of just how long he’s been in love with Haruhi is a great emotional capper to this series.

Of course, Ouran is not just a romance – it’s also a comedy, and a lot of the comedic elements have been, if not missing lately, at least not as insane. That certainly changes in the middle of the book, as Hatori has apparently decided that now that she’s managed to have Haruhi and Tamaki work out their feelings (to themselves, at least), it’s time to ramp up the wacky hijinks. How much you appreciate this depends on how much you like Ouran’s ability to pile ridiculous situations on top of each other – I enjoy it in small doses, but was starting to feel as aggravated as Haruhi towards the end of things.

The final chapter of this volume deals with Hunny and Mori. They’re the two Host Club characters we’ve dealt with the least, so it makes sense that they’re getting a spotlight here as Hatori tries to start wrapping things up. I was very amused at a bit of fourth-wall leaning as Haruhi noted that the announcement Hunny and Mori are graduating soon took her by surprise, as ‘it felt like we’d spent several long years together already’. Yes, we’re no longer in manga time, and characters are actually allowed to graduate. As for the chapter, it seems to depend on Mori’s stoicness and Hunny’s supposed cake-eating childishness. Both are facades, of course, but Hunny’s seems like the greater one, as he shows a maturity here that’s impressive. And as always, it ends on a cliffhanger, so we won’t see things resolved till Vol. 16.

18 volumes is long for a shoujo manga, and to a certain extent it does feel as if Ouran is trying to crawl towards the finish line as slowly as possible. But then, in addition to Tamaki and Haruhi’s feelings, we have the outstanding plot of Tamaki’s family, and that is one that I’m sure will take more than a chapter or two to resolve. Ouran may be wearing out its welcome a bit, but it’s still fun, and fans of the series won’t mind a bit as they come back next time to see what happens.

Yotsuba&! Volume 9

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By Kiyohiko Azuma. Released in Japan by ASCII Media Works, serialization ongoing in the magazine Dengeki Daioh. Released in North America by Yen Press.

It’s always harder for me to review slice-of-life mangas, as there’s less obvious things to draw on for discussion. I can’t really talk about the latest plot developments – Yotsuba getting a teddy bear is the closest we get to forward movement. Likewise, the characters are exactly the same as they’ve been, because that’s what the audience wants. No one wants to see the trauma of the Ayases being trapped in a fire, or seeing Yotsuba’s dad get shot in a botched armed robbery. Instead, we want yakiniku and balloons.

There are several awesome things about this volume, though, and not just in a ‘wow, this is cute’ way. Some of the characters have developed, Yanda being among the most obvious. Having been introduced as the jerkass who fights with Yotsuba, he’s now allowed to keep those traits while letting them be toned down so that he can interact better with the others. He fits in well with everyone at the yakiniku dinner, and we no longer wonder why on Earth Koiwai and Jumbo let him hang out with them. He’s the vaguely annoying friend who’s still a good friend – we all have those.

Azuma is also very good at subtleties. Fuuka doesn’t get much to do this volume, as she’s meant to be studying for midterms. This means that she can’t go with everyone else to look at the hot air balloons. However, we don’t see her getting upset about it – that would be out of character. Instead, we have a delightfully quiet bit of passive-agressiveness, as she notes blandly that they’re only hot-air balloons, and that they just float in the air. This is done in the background while the other characters are getting excited about the trip, and just made me laugh. Poor Fuuka, once again the unloved one of Yotsuba.

The highlights of the volume are definitely the teddy bear buying and the Balloon Fair, though. Yotsuba’s search for a teddy bear is adorable, and I loved how the bear she eventually chooses is posed with one arm up – we can immediately see why she picked him out of the other identical bears, he’s waving to her! Also, he talks! Though Yotsuba hasn’t yet quite worked out how to MAKE him talk… As for the balloon fair, not only do we get to see the teddy bear be even more awesome, but we get two beautiful Asagi moments – Koiwai trying to swing her around like he did Yotsuba, and failing as Asagi is quite a bit bigger; and Koiwai’s attempts to impress everyone with the bamboo dragonfly, quickly undermined by Torako being so much better at it. The panel showing an angry, frustrated Koiwai bent over while Asagi towers above him, noting Torako’s flies much farther, is not only funny but marvelously laid out – you really get the sense of Asagi’s brutal teasing.

In short, there’s a lot more to offer here than just Yotsuba being cute, although she certainly is. Come for the adorable, but stay for the sight of a manga author in terrific command of all his artistic powers, showing us what he can do to move and amuse us.

Toriko Volume 3

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By Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro. Released in Japan by Shueisha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Weekly Shonen Jump. Released in North America by Viz.

In re-reading my review of the 2nd volume of Toriko, I seemed to be rather grumpy about it, feeling that it had lost a lot of the qualities I liked in the first one. This 3rd volume seems to correct that balance a bit – Toriko still seems to be a hammy jerk, but we see more of the sharp mind behind it, and his defense of a mother wolf and her newborn shows his kinder side.

One thing I liked a great deal is how this manga deals with Komatsu, its normal character. Like a lot of Jump manga, it sometimes seems like he’s there to stand at the side of every battle and shout obvious commentary (see Beauty from Bobobo for the prime example). But this book reminds you that while Komatsu may be a complete weakling when it comes to capturing insanely dangerous food, he’s not called a master chef for no reason – put carving knives in his hands, and he’s a genius. He, rather than Toriko or Coco, is the one who saves the day and gets them their dish of puffer whale. More to the point, he *is* getting braver, if not stronger – when an entire arena flees from danger, Komatsu is asked why he’s not running, and he notes that after traveling with Toriko this just seems normal to him now.

I also like the way the manga handles the animals we see. They’re all super-special gene-crossed animal hybrids, but we have yet to find any cute talking rabbits or ferrets here. These are psychotically dangerous beasts, and they know it. And Shimabukuro’s art shows us this, as without any need for dialogue he shows us the animals’ smug ego, and their terror when meeting a fiercer predator. The shot of the newborn wolf on the 2nd to last page here is heartbreaking, and it’s great how well that comes across.

That said, I wasn’t especially pleased at seeing a fighting tournament when we’ve only got to Volume 3. Even if it was just animals fighting each other. It’s become such a cliche of Shonen Jump series that I had hoped that the series could have avoided it and gone on another couple of epic quests – especially as we even get one set up here, with the GT Robot’s devastation, but it’s handled rather obliquely. And, of course, much as I admired Komatsu’s development, this is at heart a bunch of muscular guys standing around going ‘grah!’. Toriko is about the fights and the insane animals, but lacks a true heart as of yet.

Still, it has intrigued me enough to get me to pick up the next volume. It even introduced a female character! …who’s a total cliche. Sigh. Well, if you license a Jump series, you have to be prepared to get what is basically a Jump series. Toriko will not be breaking any rules or setting new boundaries. But it’s pretty fun, especially for young teenage boys. And it’s a huge hit in Japan, being one of the two series in 2008 to really take off (Bakuman being the other). It’s even getting an anime this April. So definitely see if it’s your cup of tea.