Seiho Boys High School! Volume 1

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By Kaneyoshi Izumi. Released in Japan as “Men’s Kou” by Shogakukan, serialized in the magazine Bessatsu Comic (“Betsucomi”). Released in North America by Viz.

I have to say that the cover of this volume really doesn’t sell the contents within, even if I’m sure it’s close to Japan’s. It’s a shot of one of the leads, Rui Kamiki, looking at the reader in a brooding, Twilight-ish fashion. Which is all very well and good, but despite occasional moments of drama, this manga does not brood; at least not in Volume 1. Instead it reads sort of like a genderflipped and genreflipped High School Girls, featuring a bunch of guys at an all-male school in the middle of nowhere dealing with the few women there and the fact that they’re all… well, teenage boys.

Given the all-male school setting, you’d think we were in a BL sort of situation, but that’s not the case here (though the first story does deal with a gay student having to deal with a girlfriend from his past when he was hiding it.) Instead, we get short one-shot chapters, each featuring a different main male cast member, and all filtered through the point of view of the lead male, who is not the focus of ant of the stories but is clearly the star anyway. It’s an odd little half-anthology half-series feel that takes some getting used to, and I wonder if this was a series of one-shots that got picked up as a series later on.

The cast are generally interesting. The generic hero, Maki, is a likeable enough guy (indeed, other characters note this as well, and he generally oozes good guy shoujo hero from his every pore), and we keep thinking we’re going to hear about his past but never quite do, though it’s apparently that a bad relationship or something with another girl is holding him back. I was also very fond of Nogami, Maki’s roommate, who is handsome, intelligent, and has no filter whatsoever on his mouth. The chapter, which features Nogami trying to convince the busty yet plain nurse who works at the school to pretty herself up so she can go after the student she likes, is easily the funniest of the collection, despite being so casual about the teacher-student thing (but then, see the next two stories). Being someone who frequently talks without thinking, I empathize with Nogami, though I feel certain I would at least avoid telling the girl I have an unconscious crush on what he does here.

And then there’s our cover boy and his sister, the first of two ‘sister complex’ stories we get in this collection (which is lampshaded by the author in her notes). As with almost all sister complex stories that are shoujo rather than hentai, they aren’t related by blood, but are both siblings through their parents’ second marriage. Fans of Marmalade Boy will spot this right off the bat, and indeed Izumi’s own fans in Japan will have likely said “Wait, didn’t we just get this plot in her last work?” As for the chapter itself, it seemed to be the most rushed of the three, with the situation barely being set up before it gets resolved.

And then there’s the one-shot, which as I noted before is actually a prequel to a 9-volume series she’d written in Betsucomi before this series, which translates as “It’s Not Like That”, and is indeed about a brother in love with his “sister”. The manga itself, from what I gather, is far more involved in its siscon plot, with much fussing over family registers, angst, and past revelations. This one-shot is a prequel to the series, taking place a couple of years earlier, and features a 13 year old Tetsu, male lead of that series, getting involved with a twentysomething who’s trying to recover from a bad affair where she’s the other woman. Surprisingly, their relationship goes far enough that they even go to bed together (at least they did put an OT rating on this) but does not last, as… well, as she went back to the married man. Luckily, the kid still has his sister to obsess over. I suspect I’d like this more if I’d read the other series, but maybe not. It’s very Shogakukan shoujo, in that there’s far more sexual activity and peccadilloes than I’m used to in a licensed work.

As a first volume, this is wildly variable, never quite catching enough to really succeed. However, it did retain my interest enough that I want to continue with it, if only to find out what’s up with Maki, the lead boy, and (presumably) his emotional past. Hopefully we’ll see that in the next volume. Along with more of Nogami saying something completely inappropriate. And perhaps slightly less faux incest.

Walter Lantz Cartoons Part 3: Jolly Little Elves, Toyland Premiere, Candyland, Springtime Serenade, Puppet Show

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Ready for 5 more Walter Lantz cartoons he created for Universal Pictures, these five ranging from the years 1934 to 1936. Four of the five are very similar, and very much what one expects when told they’re watching a 30s cartoon trying to imitate Disney. That fifth one, though… it’s different, I’ll grant it that.

Jolly Little Elves is an interesting cartoon for many reasons, none of which relate to the action on screen. It was Lantz’s first color cartoon, and also his first cartoon not to star a regular character such as Oswald and Pooch. It was a straight up attempt to try to do a Disney Silly Symphony (the line would be called ‘Cartune Classics’, and it had a much higher budget than usual. And for a 1934 cartoon, it actually looks well animated and designed. It uses the 2-strip Technicolor technique, as Disney owned the rights to 3-strip until 1935. This means that the palette looks a little drab, with lots of red and blue but little richness. As for the cartoon itself, it’s a Shoemaker and the Elves cartoon. If I just tell you nothing but that, you’d be able to write 3/4 of the gags seen here. There’s little to no irony or surprise, as you might see in a later Warners cartoon with the same subject. It’s just cute shoemaking, along with some choruses of Dunk Dunk Dunk (Oh How I Love To Dunk Doughnuts). However, this was what folks wanted from a cartoon in 1934. It was nominated for an Academy Award (it lost to Disney’s The Tortoise and the Hare), and Disney was reportedly worried he’d have serious competition. No worries there, though – the Cartune Classics ended up being rarities, as Universal couldn’t afford too many of them.

Lantz fell back on the old standard for his second color cartoon – celebrity caricatures. He also threw in Oswald as well, though Oswald plays a smaller role. Toyland Premiere’s premise is that Christmas is coming up, and to get kids jazzed up for it they’re throwing a big parade in New York City – sorry, a city somewhere that is unnamed – followed by a party at Macy’s – excuse me, City Department Store. I get you don’t want to alienate your non-NYC viewers, but sheesh, be less obvious. After some brief Santa angst when moths eat his suit, and a few cute parade shots, we’re at the premiere, which features Johnny Weismuller and his wife Lupe Velez (he’s doing Tarzan, but that’s clearly Velez rather than Maureen O’Sullivan), Shirley Temple, Laurel and Hardy, Frankenstein’s Monster (Karloff, presumably), Eddie Cantor (in blackface throughout), and Bing Crosby (whose vocal imitator gets the speech right, but not the singing). Laurel and Hardy dominate the 2nd half of the cartoon, which features them trying to get at the cake before it’s divided up. Unfortunately, the end of this cartoon is cut in all available prints, so the obvious end gag (Santa blows so hard on the candles the cake lands on Laurel and Hardy) is missing. Shane, as it means a weak ending to a fun cartoon.

Candyland is next, and I’m already starting to get my fill of cutesy. After seeing several ethnic stereotype babies going to sleep, we focus on the one baby who isn’t, a little Italian kid. You can tell he’s Italian (or at least a recent immigrant) as his father is yelling at him right out of the Chico Marx school of dialect. Atsomatta, you no sleep? No, he’s not sleeping, as he wants candy. So the Sandman takes the kid from his father (who happily lets him go off with no word about where they’re going – he could be going to Happy Cartoon Torture Land for all we know), and kid and dog end up in Candyland, the magic factory where candy is made, ruled by The Candy Man. Candy making gags follow, similar to the shoemaking gags 2 cartoons ago. There’s some very odd perspective here, as the kid and dog are clearly bigger than the elves making the candy, but as we normally just see the elves by themselves (they look like old men), when combined there’s a visual dissonance. In the end the journey is nightmarish, as the king decides to give the kid castor oil. In the end, he’s crying again and Italian dad is back where he started.

Springtime Serenade is technically an Oswald cartoon, and it’s in color (rather washed out color – this isn’t a great print, though they did their best to restore it). Oswald has a wife, and for once she’s actually a rabbit. Makes a change from all of his cat and dog girlfriends of yore. The sun is shining, the trees are blooming and spring is in the air. All the cute l’il animals are frolicking and being cute, despite the annoying old German groundhog telling them he sees his shadow, so winter isn’t over yet. They ignore him and go about their spring cleaning for most of the cartoon. As they finish and Oswald open his summer resort, winter returns, and they all rush back inside. Easily the dullest cartoon of the five I viewed.

And then there’s Puppet Show. We’re back to black and white for this one, and it again stars Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. By this point, however, Oswald had lost his ‘inkblot’ design, and become a white Easter bunny type rabbit. The basic plot of this cartoon is that Oswald is presenting a puppet show, which features him manipulating several puppets in song and dance. What makes it odd is that the puppets are live-action, and over half the cartoon is just live-action sequences of various puppets doing a vaudeville routine. The rather fey emcee introduces an Arabian snake charm dance (with a very buxom puppet doing the dance instead of a snake); two Latin dancers; and a black torch singer with her piano player, singing as two other black puppets dance. Oswald is at this point bothered by a rather persistent bee, who first gets the puppets all tangled then stings Oswald, who falls to the ground and gets knocked out. We then switch to animation full-time, as the now-animated black dance puppets come to life, and one decides to strike off on his own. The other puppet chides him, noting that they can’t do anything without someone pulling their strings. The first puppet wanders off, at first sort of sliding but once he gets a bunch of balloons attached to him more freely. He arrives at a toy department, and wants to be one of the others. The other toys permit him to try out for their toyland gala, but when one of his balloons pops, it becomes clear that he’s a horrible, disgusting puppet. The toys decide to show him what happens to those who try to get above their station by sawing him into firewood. Oswald, thankfully, wakes up at this point, and finishes his live-action puppet show. If you think that the 2nd half of this movie sounds like it has hideously creepy racial subtext, you’re absolutely right. I doubt it was intentional, but the black puppet being jeered and then tortured by the toy mob is just mind-boggling today. Still, it was easily the most interesting cartoon of the five I watched, if perhaps not for the right reasons.

Next time we’ll see Lantz retiring Oswald, and trying to find a new cartoon star in Andy Panda.

Otomen Volume 7

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By Aya Kanno. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialization ongoing in the magazine Bessatsu Hana to Yume (“Betsuhana”). Released in North America by Viz.

Another volume of Otomen, where Aya Kanno… writes about whatever the hell she wants, really, and if it happens to advance the main plot or develop the characters, so much the better. This means, as with many previous volumes, that the quality is highly variable; however, the good bits are really good.

Sadly, the first chapter in the book is not one of the good bits. I sometimes wonder if the theme that Viz notes on the back cover – ‘having girly hobbies doesn’t make you less manly!’ – is actually meant to be the theme of this manga, or if Kanno is just gleefully subverting it for her own amusement. This chapter in particular is a good example, as showing how, in a world where men are manly and women are girly that it’s OK to like cutesy stuff – is less appropriate when every other guy in the world is the same way! Seriously, we’ve met Asuka, and we now have the gardening otomen, the makeup artist otomen, and with this chapter, the singing otomen. Disbelief is starting to get tired of hanging around up there.

Luckily, this is the low ebb, and the other three stories are more interesting. My favorite was the second, involving the kendo club going off to train at a camp rumored to be haunted by a vengeful female ghost. Asuka, naturally, is terrified of ghosts. Juta, sensing a manga cliche he can abuse, suggests Ryo come along to serve as manager. What I liked best about this is that it finally admitted that no, it wasn’t a case of Ryo ‘forgetting’ that Asuka had confessed to her, or the series itself retconning it. She just hasn’t responded with an answer. Asuka’s talk with the ghost about how difficult this is is very touching, and it’s made even better by his return and seeing Ryo curled up asleep with her exorcist vacuum. Some people just feel more comfortable with deeds rather than words.

Speaking of Juta, he gets a focus chapter in here, noting his playboy sensibilities and how he seems to avoid commitment. He’s blaming the manga career, but his sisters all seem to know that’s not it. What I found most interesting here is that Juta, crippled with writer’s block due to thinking about his old love, is able to use that and turn it into a story about ‘Asuka’s’ best friend from Love Chick (aka genderflipped Juta) and her own old love. I wonder if that will slowly lead to him being able to get his manga away from just writing about Asuka’s love life and create his own situations. Unlikely (that’s where the humor of his character comes from), but it’s a good thought.

And finally, we come back to the fact that Ryo is unable to tell Asuka that she loves him back. This is very distressing for him, as he actually asks her point blank as they’re on a date and she evades the question. She notes she wanted to come on her amusement park date with the rest of the gang. Naturally, Asuka is getting those ‘just a friend’ vibes from this (and to be honest, it does read like that, as Ryo is THE hardest character to read in this series). Things then go pear-shaped when Juta, who seems to be able to think only in shoujo manga cliches, starts a rumor that Asuka is transferring schools. Hijinx naturally ensue, but Juta gets what he thinks he wanted when Ryo admits that she’s glad the rumor isn’t true. She still looks depresed, though, and in the end we find out why.

Well, we almost find out why. Damn cliffhangers, Kanno. You barely include Ryo for all of Volume 6, and when you finally do you tug at our heartstrings. You’d better not write her out (hey, it is a worry here – I’m sure if she made the manga all male it would be just as popular). Definitely looking forward to Volume 8.