The Stellar Six of Gingacho Volume 1

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By Yuuki Fujimoto. Released in Japan as “Kirameki☆Gingachou Shoutengai” by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

It has to be said, it’s a rare manga that can win you over by simply making you feel good. No stunning originality, no impetuous romance (well, not much), nothing you haven’t seen in a bunch of other Hakusensha titles… just a good cheer and brightness that threatens to overwhelm you at times, drowning you in a big smile. At MangaNext, Ed Chavez was noting that you shouldn’t read Ayako if you’re already depressed. I will add that if you do, you can cheer yourself up by reading this.

The basic premise follows the lives of six teenage sons and daughters of merchants as they live their life in the middle of a shopping district and marketplace in Gingacho, a fictional Osaka township. And when I say six protagonists, I mean two, really, but I am hopeful that the other four will get a lot more focus as the volumes go on – this is 10 volumes total. The stars of this volume are Mike (pronounced Japanese style) and Kuro, the standard Hakusensha perky clueless girl and aloof guy. Mike has a smile to die for – you could hurt your face trying to imitate it – and everything always seems to be the MOST IMPORTANT THING EVER in her life. In other words, a perfect shoujo teen.

The chapters in this particular volume ran in Hana to Yume’s sister magazine The Hana to Yume, which comes out 6 times per year, before it moved to the main magazine for Volume 2. This is why the chapters are so long, and also why we get reintroduced to everyone once we start a new chapter. I don’t mind this too much if it’s not overdone – Natsume’s Book of Friends was recently doing it as of Volume 4, which seems excessive – and it helps me recall the names of the other 4 kids in the Stellar Six, who get less of a look-in here. We have the playboy, the meek girl, the team mom, and the deadpan flake. I suspect they’ll pair up by the end as well, though may be wrong here.

Although Chapter 2 does get into Mike and Kuro’s relationship, and how it might develop, the series is firmly about friendship so far, with Mike desperate to hold on to those magical childhood years when the world is your oyster. It’s also nice to see a manga centered around a shopping district – there is a school chapter, but you sense that the focus of the action will be the various stores, which are all family-owned and no doubt will continue to be when the next generation comes along. No one in this book is stunningly rich – a bar getting trashed makes it very likely the bar will have to shut down, and a quest for 100 popsicle sticks is something that could take years to achieve.

The Stellar Six of Gingacho is not going to win any originality awards, but by now readers of this blog know that doesn’t really bother me. It’s a feel good manga about the lives of six kids, emphasizing friendship over romantic angst. And though it’s rated T for teen, you could easily give it to a youngster and not have to worry about anything. The art is a bit messy, but hey – Hakusensha title. Overall, I’m quite pleased that Tokyopop is giving this series a chance, and hope that readers do as well.

V.B. Rose Volume 10

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By Banri Hidaka. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

One of my favorite shoujo series hits double digits, and to celebrate we finally get another plot point wrapped up, as Yukari’s backstory is revealed. Ran, Yukari’s mother, showed up in the last volume, and is revealed here to be a full-bore ditz, something that Hidaka-san seems to specialize in for some reason. She’s a lot of fun to read about, but probably not someone fun to be raised by, as we discover here when she tells Ageha her backstory.

Ran’s story bugged me a little, but it’s not specific to this title, but to anime in general. Certainly it’s clear that some people are not cut out to be mothers (we learned that in Bunny Drop earlier as well), but I do wonder at the easy tendency to forgive that many anime characters have. Yukari does not seem to have been particularly bothered by his past with his mother beyond the fact that her never appearing before him again left him with a feeling of unfinished business. We, however, are left with a certain feeling of ‘that’s it?’. Now, Ran is a minor character, and so this is not as much of an issue as it is in some other series, where characters being easily forgiven has led to a certain amount of hate in fandom. But it is interesting – part of what makes your hero and heroine so nice is that they have such a large heart, I guess.

About 3/4 of this volume is taken up with that storyline (and I’d like to note that Hidaka-san has done a great job since the Akiyoshi days of spreading out her story and giving the art more space to breathe. Hana to Yume series in general tend towards the cluttered, but I Hate You More Than Anyone! could get excessively so. V.B. Rose feels just right), with the rest given to a fluffy fanservice chapter where Ageha gets her hair done by Kazuha, who has shown up at the store with Maki and their child in tow. I suspect those who never read her earlier series will be a bit startled by Kazuha decking Maki with a heavy floor lamp – V.B. Rose has never quite had the violent content of its predecessor – but trust me, this is typical.

Essentially, this new volume of V.B. Rose provides what we want from the series – lots of pretty people, an excessive amount of fashion, a lot of over-the-top humor, and some occasional sweet romance. It looks like next volume will be another big flashback, judging by the preview, where we’ll see how Yukari met Mitsuya in high school, and why these two are friends despite their polar opposite personalities. Can’t wait.

How to Draw Shojo Manga

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Written by the editors of Hakusensha’s shoujo magazines, art by Yui Shin. Released in Japan as “Shoujo Mangaka Ni Narou!” by Hakusensha. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

I’ll just come right out and say it: I can’t draw. Heck, I have trouble making reasonable stick figures – they always come out too short and stout. Therefore, from a creative perspective, this book is likely not going to help me much. In addition, there are numerous ‘How to Draw Manga’ books that have already come out in North America from various Western publishers, none of which I have read.

So why did I buy this? I was curious. I’d long been a fan of Hakusensha’s shoujo magazines, and I wanted to see how it would be styled. Would it be cutesy, with various licensed characters like Tohru and Kazuha telling you how to draw? Plus I like supporting Tokyopop, and felt this was a very interesting pickup for them.

As it turns out, there’s not much from other artists beyond the use of panels as examples. The book came out in Japan 4 years ago, and we see some manga that was popular at the time being used to show you what to do. Of course, much of that manga is *still* popular – Ouran High School Host Club, Maid-sama!, and Vampire Knight are all seen here – but we also get tempting shots of other releases such as Himitsu – Top Secret by Reiko Shimizu, her long running thriller series from Melody magazine. But if you buy this as Tohru’s on the cover, you may be disappointed.

Most of the actual art inside is from a minor Hakusensha artist named Yui Shin. Checking her bibliography shows that she only has about 2 or 3 series under her belt, and at the time this was written she only had one. Oddly, this helps to make the book better suited for beginners – you aren’t being shown the ropes by someone intimidating. The basic premise is that we see a newbie author, Ema, being guided through the process of submitting a manga for Hakusensha’s new talent contests with the help of a young male editor, Sasaki. Towards the end of the volume, having seen her come of with the idea and have it critiqued by Sasaki, the manga is printed, and we then see the editors critique it.

The manga isn’t that great. And the editors note this, indicating that her characters are too dull, her art is too sloppy, and there’s little tension. It’s very much how they would judge a beginner’s first-time work, as they note that most folks fail with their first submission and have to try again.

The majority of the book is an actual guide to drawing manga, going from supplies and art styles to coming up with ideas and storyboard, to inking the final product. There’s even a small section on digital publishing. All of these are told simply and as plainly as possible, trying to encourage while also showing how much of a huge job it is to actually produce something worth publishing. They talk about how you should practice drawing everything (well, almost everything – they note to be careful when drawing people as real life humans are far stockier than shoujo characters), how to be inspired by others without ripping them off, how to use special effects, putting important panels right before the page turn… it’s nicely detailed.

Towards the end they give the details of the contests themselves, if anyone wants to give it a try. Before a couple of years back I’d have said this was well-nigh impossible, but after Felipe Smith broke into Kodansha, who knows? The magazine editors are all encouraging, noting the differences between the four (Melody is more mature, and as it only comes out 6 times a year, is also choosier; whereas Hana to Yume is broader-based, and discusses its many big hits), and you even get the address of the company, if you feel like stalking them.

As a manga reader, I found the book highly interesting, giving me insight into Hakusensha’s editorial process and the type of shoujo that they create. As an artist, I imagine I’d get even more out of it. Still, even if you don’t draw, I’d still recommend this.

(I’d also love to see Hakusensha get its artists from Silky to do a How to Draw Josei Manga volume, but I don’t think Silky takes newbies. Or even worse, Young Animal telling you how to draw seinen. “Chapter 3: Nipples.”)