Mushishi Volumes 8, 9, & 10

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By Yuki Urushibara. Released in Japan by Kodansha, serialized in the magazine Afternoon. Released in North America by Del Rey.

And so one of Del Rey’s quirkier series comes to an end, as the final 3 volumes of Mushishi come out in one big ‘this doesn’t sell very well’ omnibus. But it is at least complete, and looks great, though I would prefer that Del Rey put all the endnotes at the end and number the pages all the way through – it’s harder to flip to the middle to look for a note.

Despite the fact that this is the series’ grand finale, the author deliberately avoids giving it a definite ending. The last story is a 2-parter, but other than that could just as easily slot in anywhere in the series. There wasn’t much of a backstory to Mushishi in any case – we get another flashback to Ginko’s childhood here, but it’s not revelatory – so there aren’t plot threads to be tied up or couples to marry off. It’s just life going on, and that life getting entangled with a lot of mushi.

These stories tend to, like a lot of folk tales, be divided into happy and sad endings. Though really, even the happy endings tend to be a sort of grey, melancholic sort of happiness. Seeing a happy couple at the end, or happy parents and their children, is a rarity here – which of course makes it all the sweeter when it does happen. Likewise, you feel horrible when things go wrong for the mushi-infected people – whether through stubbornness or lack of resolve. One chapter in particular, featuring a man reliving his life over and over again and having deja vu – is heartbreaking, but in a totally understandable, human way.

Despite all of the mushi, Mushishi is a story about humanity, in all its goodness and badness. Ginko wanders through offering sage wisdom, but as much as I like him his role could be filled by anyone and the story would still be the same. Mushishi ended up being an anthology series, a collection of short stories in 10 volumes with an interconnected theme. But they’re all well-told, with lovely watercolor art that highlights the naturalistic, quasi-historical feel of the series.

It’s not a series that got me all fired up, and wanting to write fanfics or hunt down art. But it’s peaceful, and calm, and something from Del Rey that’s a change from the things they’ve been licensing lately. Those who like stories, and don’t mind a few scares or tears, will love reading Mushishi.

Manga the week of 8/18

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At last, a quiet week! Most of the Viz stuff I’m mentioning actually shipped this week to comic shops, and as always Midtown Comics is getting it a week later. But a week where 30-40 books aren’t all coming out at once is a GOOD week.

Oh yes, we also have Kodansha’s Western arm, who are putting out Ghost in the Shell 2. I presume this will be a simple reprint of the Dark Horse version, like Kodansha’s other releases to date. I will admit they did announce a new title for January of next year that seems to be a non-reprint, a manga version of Hagakure: The Code of the Samurai. I’d still like to see Sailor Moon, though. :)

As for Viz, this week is traditionally the week when they release their ‘Signature’ titles, the ones with good reviews and bad sales. Or maybe not, as Vagabond 32 is coming out, and Matt Blind’s excellent post here shows that it sells OK. We also get new 20th Century Boys for you Urasawa fans, and more Ooku for those who like to rage against the adaptation.

Gestalt, the fantasy manga that came out in the 1990s from Square Enix’s GFantasy magazine, is ending after 8 volumes.

The two I’m most interested in this week are Dorohedoro Volume 2, as I found Volume 1 to be far more interesting than I’d expected from a grim, gritty, ultraviolence title, and Volume 1 of Gente, the ‘prequel’ to Ristorante Paradiso that goes into how the restaurant came to be. Both are titles that I very much consider ‘subsidized by Naruto’, i.e. they’d never be licensed were it not for Viz’s success with the ninja boy allowing them to take more risks. At the same time, I always love when titles like this come out. These two especially have art that’s fascinating and great to analyze, albeit in totally different ways.

The Qwaser of Stigmata Volume 1

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By Hiroyuki Yoshino and Kenetsu Sato. Released in Japan as “Seikon no Qwaser” by Akita Shoten, serialization ongoing in the magazine Champion Red. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

It’s been a long time since I’ve actually spent money to purchase something I knew ahead of time that I’d dislike. I picked up this title, however, feeling that it’s possible that my blog was getting too positive, and that I was only reviewing titles I could enthuse over. And I knew that this title would be talked about the moment Tokyopop announced it. So I decided to get Volume 1 and struggle through it.

Imagine my surprise when it managed to be even worse than I’d anticipated! The blatant fanservice was pretty bad – I mean, the writer says in the first line of his author’s notes, “Hello, do you love breasts? I love them very much!!”. That tells you exactly what you’re getting into. The plotline of the heroes needing breast milk – pardon me, soma – from your handy big-breasted girl is perhaps not one that I’d expect in a mainstream manga (no, not even from Champion Red), but certainly would not be out of place in any number of hentai doujinshi, so we can’t even claim that as an innovation.

(As a side note, when I think of the word ‘soma’, I naturally think of Blake’s 7, as my youthful memories are filled with Vila whining about how all he needs is some soma to keep him going. This makes me imagine Avon offering his breast to Vila to suckle, something which I’m amazed slashers never came up with. But I digress…)

Then there’s the rest of the plot that’s not about breast sucking, which manages to be just as predictable. Private school, lots of bullying of the poor heroines. Shy meek girl turns out to be a sneering villain all along, very typical of these sorts of shonen manga for guys series. And speaking of secretly evil girls, we also have the Goth Loli. I’m surprised that he didn’t work in animal ears in some way… oh wait, that’s right! The nun Teresa just HAPPENS to have hair that falls so that she looks like she has dog ears. I will admit, the sheer gall of piling all these things together is somewhat impressive.

If only it made a lick of sense. It is possible that my lack of knowledge of the Russian Orthodox church might be forcing me to miss some important plot points, but I suspect even a Patriarch would stare at this manga in confusion. The second half, which is essentially a giant fight scene of the “Fool, you thought that was powerful enough to destroy ME?” variety, would work just as well with no dialogue whatsoever, and I actually wonder if the art was drawn first, and Sato just gave this to Yoshino and said “Fill this in with words.” I’m used to shonen manga, especially ones built around fights, where the plot is irrelevant. But the way it’s used here, with its religious iconography and metal symbols, is almost completely incoherent.

I have no desire to get another volume of this, but I suspect I don’t need to. The hero and heroine will work hard to protect the pure purity pureness girl with huge breasts from various villains that get more powerful. No doubt by Volume 2 or 3 our hero will need to suckle on our heroine’s breasts to get a powerup. This will be presented as titillating but will not actually lead to anything remotely resembling romance, as the action is totally divorced from any love or romance. No doubt she will hit him at some point. And no doubt they will gain allies who will also provide their metal powers – and associated breasts – to help out.

This is still running in Japan at 9 volumes, so no doubt it’s popular. But man, what mindless entertainment it is. You can do better if you’re looking for shonen fighting series. Hell, you can even do better if you’re looking for women with big breasts. Not recommended.