Fullmetal Alchemist Volume 23

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By Hiromu Arakawa. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Viz.

Skipping ahead here, obviously, to review the most recent volume. In the interim, stuff has happened, and all the major characters (minus Winry, who’s back home – at least the author hasn’t tried to shoehorn her into a situation she doesn’t belong in) are continuing to fight the remaining Homonculi. This, of course, means that the majority of the volume is a giant fight, with all that this entails.

However, the real reason to read this volume, and what makes it one of the best to date, is Roy meeting Envy. Finding Hughes’ killer has been a major focus of Roy’s and this time when he asks he finally gets the answer he’s looking for. Roy’s reaction is… well, predictable, as we all sort of expected that he’d flip out. What’s more intriguing is the reaction of the other characters there.

Scar and Ed immediately realize what’s going to happen, but Ed’s going to have to act alone, as Scar is not about to lecture anyone going off on a huge hatred-filled cycle of revenge, for obvious reasons. Meanwhile, they’ve still got to catch Envy, who I must admit is really being an asshole here. The comments on Maria Ross, morphing into Gracia Hughes… Envy is trying hard to make Roy lose it. (Great to see Maria running around again, by the way).

Then we have a series of wonderful moments that are not only great character drama but are pure gold for shippers of Roy/Riza. First we get Riza’s elaborate double bluff, playing on the fact that everyone already thinks that Roy and Riza are closer than they actually are. Then of course Roy arrives and reduces Envy to its true form, and prepares to kill it… but is stopped by Riza’s gun to his head. She won’t let him kill Envy out of murderous hatred.

This is pretty much the best scene of the book, beautifully drawn and making a terrific point about letting your emotions consume you. Scar and Ed both get really good shots in, but Roy is still ready to murder Envy anyway (and it is totally played as murder, not anything else). It’s Riza who gets through to him though, especially when he realizes what she’s willing to do should this situation happen. He backs down… and Envy just loses it, screaming at everyone that they’re all idiots. Ed, of course, can see what’s really behind this, and pushes Envy (unintentionally) into one final act of pettiness.

This, believe it or not, still leaves out the best line of the volume. That’s because the best line of the volume is on the final page. If you’ve ever loved watching one specific character kick ass and take names, you will be cheering when you get to this page. Further, deponent sayeth not.

Clearly, this isn’t a volume for new readers, and I wouldn’t expect them to read it. For FMA fans, though, this is just terrific, giving our heroes plenty of awesome scenes of combat (even tiny powerhouses like May) and some real emotional drama, especially involving Roy and Riza. Fantastic shonen, one of the best currently coming out in the United States. It’s a shame it’ll be another 6 months till Volume 24.

Gatcha Gacha Volume 6

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By Yutaka Tachibana. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Melody. Released in North America by Tokyopop.

In this volume, we think that we’ve finally learned all the backstory. Kanako is back, and she remembers who she is. Sadly, this means that Yabe is obsessing on her again, and has broken up with Yuri, who is trying to cope as best she can. Meanwhile, Hirao is trying to cheer Yuri up, while also getting up the gumption to confess. And of course, Motoko stands on the sidelines, pointing and laughing at it all.

This does not mean that the volume is without interest. There’s a lot going on here. Kanako, for one, is surprising everyone but the reader. The reader notes she’s being obnoxiously clingy towards Motoko, rude towards everyone else, and positively violent towards Yuri. Motoko, however, sees what we don’t – she’s not transferring schools to be with Motoko 24/7, nor is she moving back to the mansion. And she’s jealous of anyone getting Motoko’s attention, yes, but also seems to be jealous of those going after Yabe as well. She has, in fact, moved from being a psychotic evil girl to merely being a clingy jealous girl. In a series like this, that *is* an improvement. Kanako may not, in fact, realize this herself, as Motoko has to point out how Yabe’s prior relationship with Yuri is affecting her.

Speaking of Yabe, he continues to slouch through this series like the worst boyfriend ever. He definitely seems to have feelings for Yuri, but seems content not to act upon them. He notes, when Hirao asks if he loves Yuri, that he thinks Hirao would be a much better boyfriend for her. Which is completely avoiding the question, of course. It’s also true. Yabe would be a wretched boyfriend for anyone. Kanako is still throwing off his advances, but she’s at least not attempting to stab him or sleep with him in a fit of rage anymore (I think she finally realizes that Yabe is not about to seduce Motoko anytime soon), so I suspect they will get together eventually.

That, of course, would leave Yuri with Hirao. It’s a rare shoujo manga that shows the nice but ineffectual guy winning (that’s more shonen harem), so it would be a change of pace. There are a few things working against it, of course. First of all, Yuri seems to have no idea that Hirao even thinks of her in a romantic way. This, at least, is cleared up halfway through the book, when Hirao finally mans up and confesses. Secondly, Yuri has no idea how to deal with a guy who’s confessed to her. All her prior relationships have been her confessing to other guys, and her seizing the initiative. Which would be fine, if she hadn’t had 13 horrible ex-boyfriends. Motoko spells this out for her – she’s only attracted to losers and jerks.

Of course, Hirao has his own comedic one-sided crush, in the form of Hanada, his vice-president. She’s been presented throughout this manga as comic relief, and that doesn’t change, but she does at least force Yuri to start thinking a bit. She’s been getting picked on a lot less recently, which is odd as Hirao is just as popular as Yabe, and the whole school now knows he likes her. Of course, this is just an illusion – the other girls hate her just as much, but someone is stopping them. We see this in action in an awesome scene at the school at 6am, where 3 girls trying to write graffiti on the school walls (calling Yuri a bitch and a whore), they’re stopped by Hirao, who notes that he’s even going to beat the crap out of him, then resign as president. Luckily, he doesn’t need to go that far. He also trips over a paint can and falls on his ass. And Yuri finally realizes that he’s maybe enough of a loser for her to like.

As for Motoko, as I noted she exists on the periphery of this volume, but that doesn’t mean she has nothing to do. I already noted her insight about her sister, but we also see her starting to think about how she *really* feels about Yuri and Hirao hooking up. Sekine asks what she thinks about it and she replies, “Dunno.” Motoko’s tendency towards leering after and ogling young girls has been a running gag through the series, usually played for comedy – she’s noted she’s not gay more than once. However, we’ve never once seen her interested in any guy whatsoever, and Yabe for one is pretty sure that she’s in denial. He points out to Sekine that the one problem with Sekine’s becoming a man enough to confess to Motoko is that she only likes girls. And when it’s noted that Yuri’s craving for bad boys might extend to her – Motoko is after all worse than any of them – Motoko grins, and says “If I were a guy, would you ask me out?”. Yuri, flushing, can’t answer her.

I still wouldn’t call this a ‘yuri’ manga, and suspect it’s just a bunch of tease. The author certainly has difficulty writing gay MEN in the series without them being horrible caricatures. Still, I still find Gatcha Gacha hideously enjoyable. Lots of comedy (I love Motoko’s softball breakdown, where she can’t resist serving up easy-to-hit pitches to the pretty girls), lots of melodrama (I didn’t even get into Yuri’s bald spot), and four terrific leads, who are not remotely admirable but are nevertheless wonderful to read about.

S.A. Volume 16

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By Maki Minami. Released in Japan by Hakusensha, serialized in the magazine Hana to Yume. Released in North America by Viz.

The penultimate volume of Special A, and the series is definitely in need of an ending. Having taken care of the rest of the cast in the previous volume, this one concentrates on Hikari and Kei, and unfortunately, that means that we have one of the series’ major faults, which is Hikari’s cluelessness. When she and Kei weren’t a couple, this was amusing, especially as it was cranked up to 11. But now that they’re a couple, it just makes Hikari seem rather dumb, as even innocent naivete needs to grow up sometimes.

We have two remaining plots to tie up, the first being Iori. He and Hikari are still bonding, and Kei is understandably getting jealous, mostly as Iori is egging him on. The midterms are coming up, and Iori asks Hikari to grant him one wish if he takes first place. She agrees, knowing that no one’s going to topple Kei. But amazingly, Iori and Kei manage to tie for first – leaving Hikari screwed, as everyone knows his wish is going to be to break up with Kei.

However, there’s little tension there, mostly as we know that Iori isn’t enough of an asshole to actually go through with such a thing. Instead, we see Hikari taking part in a model competition, with Iori as a hairstylist (shades of I Hate You More Than Anyone). Hikari’s a natural model, and even with Kei as a judge, they pass into the finals easily. (Kei notes that Iori has a natural talent that’s far above anyone else in the competition, and is not petty enough to fail them due to his own jealousy.)

Part of the problem we have here is that because the author clearly likes Hikari’s happy dense personality, it’s left little room for her to grow and mature. We see here that Hikari still finds it impossible to read Kei’s moods, even when it’s obvious to everyone in the entire country why he’s annoyed. However, that said, her lack of understanding does lead to the biggest surprise of the volume. Iori has, as expected, bowed out of the romantic rivalry, realizing that Hikari will never see him as more than a friend. Earlier, Kei had admitted his jealousy to Hikari, and admitted he just wanted to find a way for the two of them to be together forever.

Hikari’s solution is fantastic, the best moment of the volume. Unfortunately, it’s undercut by the following chapter, which features the rest of the school overreacting to her solution and freaking out. The chapter reads as if the editors told her to walk it back, and that she still has a few chapters to go. So we get a bit of a retcon, and instead go on to deal with the other main plot point: Kei’s grandfather, who still hates Hikari and insists that he’ll never let her be with Kei. He’s also still fighting with Kei’s mother (or more accurately, she’s fighting with him and he’s wallowing in guilt), and Hikari being… well, Hikari is not helping at all. It’s heavily implied that he sees a lot of his deceased wife in Hikari, which is the root of all the trouble. In the end, Kei decides to resolve everything with a nice trip to Australia as the cliffhanger.

I’ve enjoyed S.A., and it still has great moments, but it also has a frustrating inconsistency, especially with its lead heroine. Hikari’s charm is her outgoing happiness and sometimes denseness, but it’s also a very childlike attitude, and you long to see her mature. Perhaps Ouran High School Host Club, with a similar love-challenged heroine whose maturity is a major plot point, has spoiled me. In any case, Special A ends with the next volume, so it should not be that hard to pick up.